Fruitland Park Senior Chief Thomas “Tommy” Lee Gamble on Monday celebrated his 53rd anniversary as a firefighter with Fruitland Park Fire Rescue. Recently he reflected on his years of service. He joined the Fruitland Park Volunteer Fire Department as known in 1961 at the young age of sixteen. Before turning 16 he spent his time around the fire house as a young man. Back in 1961 he was allowed to officially join the department.
In the 1950s and 1960s his two brothers operated a family owned garage in Fruitland Park. Tommy was usually there every day after school and on weekends. His older brothers were both members and firefighters with the fire department and it was only right that they all went if there was a fire, Tommy wanted to be part of it as well and helped in any way he could before turning 16. In the 1960s Fire Chief Harold Davenport was in charge of the fire department, his wife Mrs.
Davenport answered the calls for service and set the alarm to go off. In 1961 the fire apparatus was a 1941 Chevrolet truck purchased from the army surplus, Chief Davenport wanted Tommy to join the department as soon as he was
officially allowed. It was only fitting that he joined as soon as he turned 16. During the early 1970s Chief Gamble was elected and voted on as the Fire Chief for Fruitland Park. Gamble continued spending most of his time in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s managing his family garage and supporting the citizens of Fruitland Park as it’s Fire Chief. In 1997 he also joined Lake County Fire Rescue and Oxford Fire Department (Now part of Sumter County Fire Rescue) and volunteered his time with those departments, as well as achieving the rank of Captain at Oxford FD. In 2001 he returned to Fruitland Park Fire Rescue fulltime after selling his garage and business.
Chief Thomas Gamble has been witness to a lot of change in the area and welcomes change as it takes place today.
After 53 years of service Chief Gamble is still very active, responding to calls for service with all of his firefighters. Chief Gamble is extremely proud of his firefighters, line officers and command staff. He hopes they will continue to enjoy the fire service as much as he has throughout his entire fire career.