Hello! My name is Scott Machovina. I am a firefighter (Engineer / EMT) in the Central Florida Area. In the summer of 2004, I had a great idea: why not start a website with the purpose of advertising firefighter-owned businesses? Like many firefighters, I have a side business; mine is lawn care. I was always being asked by my lawn care customers if I knew any firefighters that did electrical, plumbing, or any other number of jobs. I guess the reason that they asked me about firefighters in business was that firefighters are viewed as respected and trusted individuals. My thinking is that if given a choice, a consumer would utilize a firefighter-owned business rather than one owned by someone that they know nothing about.

The Firefighter-Biz.com (a.k.a. FirefighterBiz.com) website would give them access to firefighter-owned businesses. Firefighters own all kinds of businesses; lawn care/ landscaping and home improvement (such as handyman, A/C, and plumbing), just to name a couple. After 3 1/2 years of planning, the website is FINALLY here (officially launched 01/08)! By using this website, firefighters can list their businesses for free; this gives the public (as well as members of the firefighter family) access to those businesses. It is our hope that, as the web site gets more popular, sponsors and advertisers will help pay for the cost of this web site. In addition, a portion of the sponsor/ advertising dollars is donated to charities.

Included in this website are resources for firefighters. First of all is a swap shop where firefighters can trade t-shirts, patches, and firefighter memorabilia with other firefighters in the U.S and around the world. Secondly, is a section of proven firehouse recipes (it is well known that some of the best cooks are firefighters). Hopefully we will receive great recipes from Departments around the country that we can add. Finally, there are other interesting tidbits of information that firefighters might be interested in.

Based in Central Florida, our hopes are to spread this great idea across the country. Firefighter-Biz.com will be a continually evolving website. We encourage any comments and suggestions. We want to make this the best website possible. Thanks for checking out Firefighter-Biz.com!