North Collier woman wins Fire Inspector of The Year award

For 30 years, Jackie de la Osa has pored over building plans and fire codes, fielded calls from colleagues all over Florida who pick her brain about sprinklers and made structures in Collier County safer before a single brick is laid.

And now the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District fire inspector has the hardware to show she is one of Florida’s best.

Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jeff Atwater presented de la Osa with the Fire Inspector of the Year award Monday during the annual Florida Fire Service Awards in Tallahassee. The awards honor fire professionals across the board, from volunteer firefighters to fire chiefs.

Although de la Osa was honored Monday, she learned about winning the award in October when she received an email from Jon Pasqualone, the executive director for the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association.

She immediately broke down.

“I cried,” de la Osa said, tearing up as she recounted the moment. “2016 has been or was a very, very rough year. I lost my dad. I lost an uncle. I lost a couple other family members and several friends. So it was a rough year. And emotionally, I was just spent.”

Being recognized by her peers for her hard work caught the veteran by surprise.

“I was actually overwhelmed,” said de la Osa, 59. “Because I just never thought of my — what I do and what I’ve done as being that significant, let’s put it that way. But apparently others did.”

Chief among them is her boss, Eloy Ricardo, the district’s assistant chief of fire prevention and life safety.

He said when he saw the criteria for the award, he knew right away de la Osa was the perfect fit. So he nominated her.

“Jackie de la Osa is the professional known around the area as basically the person to talk to about fire sprinklers and plan review,” Ricardo said.

Aside from being an authority on fire sprinklers and codes, what made de la Osa stand out, he said, is how dedicated she is to passing along her knowledge to her peers.

“She’s very humble,” he said. “She’s the type of person that she takes the extra time to teach you the issues and the codes.”

Even now as an assistant chief, Ricardo still remembers some of his favorite classes she held for other fire professionals. Her most memorable one, de la Osa said, was the fire code class she modeled after "Jeopardy," the popular, long-running TV game show.

She designed the "Jeopardy" board on her computer and came up with enough questions to make the game work.

“I still have the buttons to ring in,” de la Osa said. “That’s the one everybody remembers, because it was fun, but informative at the same time.”

Over the years, de la Osa has left an impression on her peers and a mark on the projects she reviewed.

“Any building that you see, any permitting that you see out here has Jackie de la Osa’s signature somewhere,” Ricardo said. “Plenty of the buildings and the fire protection systems and reviews have her signature. She’s the one that reviewed them.

"And if people are safe, it’s because of Jackie de la Osa.”