On the early morning hours of Friday, June 17, 2016, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District Engine 351 and Engine 331 responded to assist Sarasota County Fire Department with a 6 Alarm Fire at 925 Packinghouse Road. The fire involved an old wood frame packinghouse that dated back to early 50’s that was surrounded by other wood frame buildings.

Shown are members of Southern Manatee Fire Rescues Haz Mat Team “Hot Tapping” a fuel tanker. The incident occurred at 1400 hrs in the 6100 block of 249 Street E in Myakka on June 13, 2016. Supported by Myakka City and East Manatee fire departments SMFR’s Haz Mat Team drilled and pumped out 3,100 gallons of Diesel fuel from a tanker that veered from the roadway averting a potential diesel spill.

On Thursday, June 9, the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District participated in the Grand Opening of the new Wawa Store located at 4506 53rd Avenue East, Bradenton, Florida. Our Station 4 personnel, Lieutenant Chad D’Agostino, Firefighter/EMT Dustin Daughtrey, FF/EMT Brian Hodges, FF/EMT Dan Reisdorf and Fire Inspector Frank Meola participated in the Hoagies for Hero’s competition.

Firefighter’s from the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District recently completed an 8 hour course in Swift Assisted Victim Extraction that taught our personnel how to work side-by-side with Law Enforcement during an active shooter event

Streetwise is an 8 hour course that is provided by Suncoast Technical College (STC) in the final week of Emergency Medical Technician Course. This course was designed to take the EMT student that just completed all of the book knowledge and skills…

On Thursday, May 12, 2016 from 0900 hours to 1600 hours, the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District conducted their annual strategic planning workshop with all of their Officer’s for the purposes of updating their current Strategic Plan for FY17-FY22…..

Safe kids Manatee is part of a 5 county coalition consisting of Manatee, Sarasota, Pinellas, Polk and Pasco. Every year one of the 5 county’s hosts Safe kids day. This year was Manatees turn to host the event. It was held at the Ellenton outlet mall.

The Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District recently placed in service four (4) new Inspector Vehicles. The District saved thousands of dollars by utilizing the State of Florida Cooperative Bid for Fire-Rescue Support Vehicles

For the first time, Manatee County’s Hazardous Materials Team (headed by Southern Manatee Fire Rescue) met with Sarasota County’s Hazardous Materials Team over three days of training…

A-Shift receives special recognition from the Cat Depot and Rescue Adoption Education Resource Center for saving a cat that was rescued from a burning structure. This cat received 2nd and 3rd degree burns and smoke inhalation…

Inspector Larry Betts is recognized at a luncheon held by the Sons of the American Revolution and is given the “Fire Safety Commendation Medal”.

Fire Chief Brian Gorski and the Board of Fire Commissioners promote three (3) new Lieutenants, Lieutenant Justin Sperko; Lieutenant Tony Hauck; Lieutenant Derek Foss.

The Board of Fire Commissioners of the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District recognizes the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Haz-Mat Team for their dedication and hard work in getting the District’s response vehicle operational (Haz-Mat 1) and they receive their Haz-Mat Team Citation Bars and Certificate of Appreciation.

The District receives over 20 Dell Laptop computers from Sarasota County Surplus. All computers were in great shape and the only thing that the District did was load the operating systems on each of them as well as computer software programs.

Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District competed in Morton’s Gourmet Market 16th Annual Fire House Chili Cook Off and received the “People’s Choice” Award and received “3rd Place Champions” Award.

You are invited to our open house to kick off fire prevention week! Join Us October 3rd between 10:00am-2:00pm at Station #3 (7611 Prospect Rd)