{"id":34933,"date":"2025-11-05T22:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/34933\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T22:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:01:10","slug":"city-honors-elite-largo-fire-rescue-unit-largo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/34933\/","title":{"rendered":"City honors elite Largo Fire Rescue unit | Largo"},"content":{"rendered":"

LARGO \u2014 The Largo Fire Rescue Extrication Team, or LXT, traveled around the world in mid-September to compete in a prestigious international competition<\/a> in Karlovac, Croatia.<\/p>\n

And although the specialized vehicle-rescue squad didn\u2019t bring home the top prize in the World Rescue Organization\u2019s 2025 World Rescue Challenge, the 10-member team finished in 10th place overall after placing third in two of three complex rescue scenarios, according to the city.<\/p>\n

\"PI-LargoFireExtricationTeam2-110625.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Members of the Largo Fire Rescue Extrication Team participated in the Belleair Bluffs Fourth of July Picnic this year to help raise funds for their trip to Croatia in September.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photos by JEFF ROSENFIELD\/TBN<\/p>\n

On Oct. 21, city officials recognized the team, which is led by Lt. William \u201cBilly\u201d Stark, who spoke about his team\u2019s impressive accomplishment.<\/p>\n

He said there were \u201c37 teams representing 19 countries competing for the title of \u2018world\u2019s best.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Stark said the competition featured \u201celite rescue units from across the globe, teams with decades of competitive history and extensive international support. \u2026 Despite the level of competition, Largo achieved a tremendous milestone, earning third place in two separate event categories,\u201d which he labeled as an accomplishment that \u201cfirmly places the city of Largo among the top vehicle rescuers in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then spoke about the LXT\u2019s makeup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat truly defines this team is not what they won but who they are, how they train, and what they represent,\u201d noting the 10 team members \u201ceach bring unique strengths to contribute to one unstoppable unit … who together embody the city of Largo\u2019s core values-integrity, collaboration and excellence. And they have now carried those values onto the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PI-LargoFireExtricationTeam5-110625.jpg\"<\/p>\n

The Largo Fire Rescue Extrication Team is an elite 10-member squad that specializes in vehicle rescues, as the team demonstrated during an open house at Station 41 in March.<\/p>\n

Photos by JEFF ROSENFIELD\/TBN<\/p>\n

In closing, Stark said, \u201cwhen this team steps onto the competition floor bearing the name \u2018Largo,\u2019 they carry every resident, every firefighter, every city employee and every leader in this room with them. Their performance showed to the world that we might not be the biggest city, but we are among the most capable, innovative and committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens we serve are safer today because the team constantly pushes itself to learn, grow and lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials praised the team for another impressive showing on the global stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to see them a few years ago in Croatia, and it was impressive,\u201d Mayor Woody Brown said while noting he felt it was more difficult for them to work over there \u201cbecause the cars were way smaller! So, that was interesting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they do a great job, they represent us very well, and more importantly, they come back here and teach their colleagues in the department the state-of-the-art ways to get people out of cars. They\u2019re saving lives here around our city regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Manager John Curp agreed, stating the team competing in international events \u201ccreates a culture of excellence in the department that carries through all the work that they do, So, it\u2019s more than just sending them on a trip. It\u2019s about creating a culture in the fire department that we\u2019re very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LARGO \u2014 The Largo Fire Rescue Extrication Team, or LXT, traveled around the world in mid-September to compete…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4085,24310,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,24312,24311],"class_list":{"0":"post-34933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-largo","9":"tag-largo-fire-rescue","10":"tag-pinellas-county","11":"tag-st-pete","12":"tag-st-pete-headlines","13":"tag-st-pete-news","14":"tag-st-petersburg","15":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","16":"tag-st-petersburg-news","17":"tag-world-rescue-challenge","18":"tag-world-rescue-organization"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}