Bert Vergara is 25 year veteran of the Fire Service and currently serves as a Lieutenant and Health and Safety Committee Chairperson for Osceola County Fire Rescue. He works alongside other Peer Fitness Trainers coordinating fitness/ wellness functions for his organization.
Lieutenant Vergara began his passion for fitness as one of the founders of the Florida Firefighter Fitness Collaborative, established in 2011. This Collaborative was established by three Central Florida departments, Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. The organization works with other Central Florida agencies and has a continued dialogue with South Florida agencies such as Coral Springs F.D, PBCFR, BSO and MDFR. Their mission is to offer ” Wellness Mutual Aid” to other Fire organizations that pursue the implementation and/ or maintenance of their wellness/fitness programs, such as the IAFF WFI. In recent years, they’ve hosted classroom and hands-on sessions/workshops by inviting some great dynamic presenters from the fitness industry and/or fire service, while also providing CEUs to those attending. Bert continues to pursue his goal to obtain the NSCA Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator Certification and has been recently appointed as the FFSHC Health and Fitness Coordinator.
Bert serves on the Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative (FFSHC), which focuses in the areas of: firefighter cancer prevention, health and fitness, mental wellness, and firefighter safety. Through the FFSHC, Bert chairs the health and fitness section for the state of Florida.
Public speaking engagements include teaching at the local fire department, area departments, Safety Stand Downs, and presentations on the Collaborative. Specific events include: Florida Fire Chief Executive Development Conference 2017, as well as the Firefighter Cancer Initiative at University of Miami.