- January 8, 2026
Lt. Armando Castañeda did not always want to be a firefighter.
In fact, he was in his 30s when he finally joined Flagler County Fire Rescue as a new hire. Now, 15 years later, Castañeda is the training captain for FCFR new hires, one of four firefighters responsible for shaping the force’s future.
The most important thing a firefighter can do is learn to build trust, he said.
“There's almost 300 years of the fire service in the United States, and that's trust,” he said. “No questions asked, a citizen will walk up and hand them their worst day of their life because 300 years of the fire service trust.”
It’s important to keep that trust in tact, he said, and for every firefighter to do their best to earn it.
“The most important message for anybody coming in is that they have to understand the importance of their integrity and their empathy,” Castañeda said.
Castañeda has been training FCFR new hires for the last eight years, he said, but in 2024 it was formalized into the training captain position after FCFR expanded the department.
When stuff is not going right, you want him on the line with you, or you want him on the search with you. He's dependable, and he's a fireman's fireman.”
— JOHN KEPPLER, FCFR lieutenant
FCFR Lt. John Keppler was Castañeda’s first lieutenant when the man joined the force 15 years ago. Castañeda was like a sponge, Keppler said — ready to learn as much as he could. Being older than the typical new hire gave Castañeda a more mature point of view for the job, too.
“Everybody's eager, but maturity comes with time,” Keppler said. “You can have a guy who's really good and gung-ho, and they just lack that maturity. And in this job, maturity allows you to make better decisions.”
Castañeda ended up taking over for Keppler, Keppler said, and was promoted quickly to lieutenant. From there Keppler said Castañeda fell in love with the fire service conferences and classes.
“He was just eaten up with the fire service,” Kepler said. They call them “hot classes,” he said, where teachers at the conferences light things on fire and the trainees are crawling in it and putting it out.
Castañeda said the classes would vary from conventional forcible entry to tactical decision making and aggressive search tactics. Over 90% of Flagler County’s calls are for medical, he said, but these classes and conferences offer key ways for firefighters to gain experience.
The only way to become good at something is to fail at it first, he said.
“I encourage people to fail as often as possible,” he said. “I think if you're not failing, you're probably not really trying, and you're probably going to fail in when you don't have the protection of being involved in a training.”
I think if you're not failing, you're probably not really trying."
— ARMANDO CASTANEDA, FCFR training captain
Castañeda eventually went on to start teaching at the conferences next to firefighters from the New York City Fire Department and the Orlando Fire Department.
And he loves teaching, Castañeda said.
Teaching about fire service is more than just how to use the tools in front of you, Keppler said. It’s also about teaching others to consider how the fire will grow and change and how to tackle it.
“He’s able to relay information in a way that people understand it,” Keppler said.
Castañeda said he tells every new hire that joining FCFR does not get them out of school.
“If you have any respect for the job, or if you have any desire to build trust like you're supposed to, you're gonna always have to be a student,” he said.
But more than his love of teaching, Keppler said he has watched Castañeda turn into the kind of firefighter others look up to when out on the line. The fire department gets all types of people, he said: the funny, the athletic, the ones with big hearts.
“But then there's another group of guys. The ones where, when things are going bad and you see them, it makes you feel better,” Keppler said. “Armando has turned into one of those guys. When stuff is not going right, you want him on the line with you, or you want him on the search with you. He's dependable, and he's a fireman's fireman.”
Armando is leaving his mark on the fire service and Flagler County Fire Rescue is better because he is part of us."
— MIKE TUCKER, Flagler County Fire Chief
Fire Chief Mike Tucker wrote in an email that Castañeda is “a fantastic leader who consistently demonstrates a sincere desire to teach and share his knowledge.”
“Armando is leaving his mark on the fire service and Flagler County Fire Rescue is better because he is part of us,” Tucker wrote.
For Castañeda, he said he loves getting to have a hand in the future of FCFR. Being a part of the FCFR has changed him, and shown him some of the worst sides of people, but, through it all, Castañeda said he believes in people more than he did before.
“I think more people want to do the right thing than we give them credit for,” he said. "And I don't think I would have seen that had I not gone to the fire service. That still amazes me.”
