William Lee Miles

Bill’s family soon moved to Greenfield, a suburb of Milwaukee, where he graduated from Milwaukee Lutheran High School. His interest in the fire service began as a teenager volunteering for the Greenfield Fire Department. He followed his passion to the University of Maryland at College Park where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering. In his senior year at Maryland, on a blind date, he met his wife Pat. After graduation in June 1966, Bill began his career as the lead fire instructor for the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension where he traveled the state conducting fire schools. With a deteriorating job situation, the Lord led the family to Clearwater in January 1969 for Bill to develop the Fire Science program at St. Pete Jr College. During the summer, classes were not offered, so Bill took a job at the college painting rooms. God put Bill with a man who led both Pat and Bill to renew their faith. In 1977 the Lord presented an opportunity to establish a Fire Training program in Orlando, so they followed His path and the Central Florida Fire Academy, (CFFA) a partnership between Orange County Public Schools, City of Orlando Fire Department, Orange County Fire Rescue and numerous other local fire departments was born. Bill always said the fire academy belonged to God. Initially CFFA was located at the Orlando International Airport abut eventually the program moved to Mid Florida Tech where he (and God) built a state of the art training facility that trained hundreds of fire fighters, including students from Russia and Brazil. He earned a Master’s degree in Vocational Education from the University of South Florida. Bill retired in 2000, after serving the fire service of Central Florida and beyond for 23 years.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Pat, son Bobby and wife Laura, daughter Melissa and husband Andre, seven grandchildren; Michael, Matthew, Amanda, Kevin, Britany, Miles and Finn, and five great grandchildren. Bill was an active member of Central Parkway Baptist Church.

Memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church of Orlando in the Henry Chapel on August 28, 2021 at 1:00pm. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Central Parkway Baptist Church in his memory.