FIRE AND IRON MC CLUB HISTORY

 

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                                                        Est.1999

     In 1997 two friends and co-workers from Orange County Fire and Rescue were riding back from the Cabbage Patch Bar during Bike Week and stopped at The Eagles Nest in Samsula, FL. While having a few beers they started talking about different Fire clubs and how none seemed to be the right fit for them. They had looked into other clubs, but were not happy with them due to the many rules or being brand specific. The talk then turned to them forming their own club. After some discussion, these two friends, Lance "Yummy" Hilliard, and Joe "Chez" Czesnakowicz, with the addition of  Mike "Short Stick" Eller who also rode and worked at the same station then as Joe, decided that they would start something brand new.  

     First they needed a name. With Joe hailing from the Pittsburgh area and having family that worked in the steel industry he thought about those tough men who worked in the mills and how firefighters have that same toughness. And the name he came up with was Fire and Iron. Fire is what we do and Iron is what we ride and who we are. And as people who do this job we must be made of steel. But steel in its basic form, being iron, is brittle. That iron is transformed by fire just as we are transformed by fire. It makes the iron malleable, it can be shaped and moved. It becomes hardened and stronger. When we are treated and tested by fire we become stronger and harder. We have to be strong, unyielding to face this task. Just as every test and treatment of the steel makes it harder so does every test and fire we encounter from the first days in the academy to our last day on the job.

     Then the club would need a patch. The first patch for the club was a 3-piece patch that was orange, with black lettering, and a Maltese cross in the center. This patch was designed by Joe.

     Shortly after its inception a meeting was held with the local dominant club and the center patch was changed from a 3-piece patch to just the center patch which was designed by Mike Eller. By late 1998 the club has all but fizzled out. Joe Chez was approached by Mike Moss, another Orange County Firefighter asking if he could take a shot at resurrecting the club. Mike Moss designed the bottom rocker to go along with the center patch. The two-piece allowed us to show our neutrality and was a sign of respect to show that we were not trying to be or represent ourselves as something that we were not.

     The first "Official" Meeting for the club was held in November of 1999 at the Orange County/Orlando Firefighter Union Hall. There were 15 people at that meeting. There are only 4 that are still with the club today and they are the three founding members and Terry Naumann of Chapter 1.

     The first members of the club invited other firefighters from different departments to join them, bringing the total membership to 20-25 members from various central Florida fire departments. Dues started off at $25 a year, with all the money going to charities and there was a meeting once every month.

     The first official charity ride for the newly formed club was for the Annie Russel home for Atypical Children in January of 2000.

     After some hard work by the founders and others who shared the clubs vision, the second chapter of Fire and Iron, known as Stations, started in Seminole County. Despite being a very short-lived endeavor, the club knew there was interest to grow. The “second” station in Volusia County, FL. Station #2 started in the spring of 2001. They are still with the club today. Fire and Iron MC was led by Mike "Caveman" Moss, from 2000 until 2012, he left the club in 2014. In that time Fire and Iron grew from a loosely associated group of Stations into a cohesive motorcycle club. It has not come without its hardships as any growing club would go through.