The Orlando Firefighters Union held a press conference Wednesday where they spoke about the termination of an Orlando firefighter days before Thanksgiving.
- Union rallies behind allegedly wrongfully terminated firefighter
- Joshua Granada reportedly fired two days before Thanksgiving
- Granada said fire dept. didn't give time to seek treatment for PTSD after Pulse
About two dozen firefighters packed the room to show their support.
The union said he was wrongfully terminated and that he should be reinstated.
The complaint stems from a call he responded to on Aug. 27.
Firefighter Joshua Granada said he pulled out his phone and made a 30 second audio recording of a patient during a distress call. He said he was fired for making the recording.
The woman turned out to be an elected official for the city of Orlando.
The specific details of what happened during the call were not released by his lawyer Wednesday.
Granada was fired two days before Thanksgiving.
He claims he should have received treatment for PTSD from the Pulse nightclub shooting, and the fire department did not give him time off to seek treatment.
His behavior had changed since the pulse shooting.
“One of the most important things to note, I did not speak about this to anyone, I did not talk to the public, I did not talk to the news. This is the closest I have gotten to speaking to the media," said Granada.
His lawyer and the union are asking the fire chief to reinstate him in 10 days.
In a statement from the Orlando Fire Department, officials claim that "no firefighter was denied mental health services" or was harassed for seeking treatment. They added that the City of Orlando offers mental health resources for all first responders and city employees.
OFD said that although Granada's actions the night of the Pulse shooting were heroic, they did not warrant "illegal recording of a patient receiving medical care," which is a privacy violation.