After 54 years of service, Fruitland Park Chief Thomas Lee Gamble has retired.
He began his career with Fruitland Park Fire Rescue in 1961. 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. Chief Davenport wanted Chief Gamble to join the department as soon as he was officially allowed. Chief Gamble joined the department as soon as he turned 16. During the early 1970s Chief Gamble was elected and voted on as the Fire Chief for Fruitland Park Fire. Chief 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 its 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 Fire Department. In 2001 he returned to Fruitland Park Fire Rescue fulltime after selling his garage and business which gave him more time to provide the fire department.
After 54 years of service Chief Gamble is still very active and loves to get on the water and go fishing.
“Chief Gamble has been a true asset to our organization and his tireless work ethic and commitment to the City and community is admirable. We wish him and his family a happy and healthy retirement and offer our most sincere and heartfelt thank you for his many years of service to our City,” said the city’s new fire chief, Steven Whitaker.