The Orange County Register
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — While working together at an Orange County Fire Authority station in Buena Park, Andrew Robles and Gabriel Flores talked often over coffee about how they wanted to give back to community members like them who dreamed of careers in the fire service but also faced financial barriers to get there.
As a part-time instructor at the fire academies at Mt. San Antonio College and Rio Hondo College, Flores, who is also a firefighter and paramedic, noticed students falling asleep in classes because they were balancing jobs and caretaking roles with the full-time program. Flores also understood those challenges, as he worked in Santa Fe Springs while attending a fire academy part-time in Inglewood at night before becoming a firefighter…