On Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 1700 hours, the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District held their annual Awards Ceremony/Banquet. This year’s event was held at the Bradenton Moose Lodge #1223, 310 44th Avenue East, Bradenton. The Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District Auxiliary did an outstanding job with the planning, menu and set up of this year’s awards banquet.

On October 22, 2018 Firefighters from Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District, North River Fire Rescue District, a General Contractor and a sales person from Municipal Fire Equipment Company joined forces once again to help repair and clear debris from the homes of Firefighters that suffered damage from Hurricane Michael.

On July 19, 2018 the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Fire District at their Commission meeting held their awards ceremony. The District awarded the following personnel with the Phoenix Award for resuscitating five (5) cardiac arrest patients during the month of May 2018; Lieutenant Dan Anderson, Firefighter/EMT Keusch, Firefighter/EMT Baserva; Lieutenant Tony Hauck, Firefighter/EMT Mike Murphy, Firefighter/EMT Velazquez, Firefighter/EMT Dunois; Lieutenant Foss, Firefighter/Paramedic Young, Firefighter/EMT Sedgley, Firefighter/EMT Kenniff, Firefighter/EMT Burghdurf.

On June 13, 2018 Commissioner Melanie Marken was awarded her Certified District Official (CDO) by the Florida Association of Special Districts (FASD) at their annual meeting in Orlando. Combined with a demanding job as a paralegal for Sarasota County and her commitment as Commissioner to Southern Manatee Fire Rescue (SMFR), Melanie has dedicated three years of time and effort into obtaining this well respected certification.

On March 21st at 1618 hours, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District was dispatched to a report of a person down, possible cardiac arrest. When our first Engine arrived on scene they found a male patient lying on the ground in the rear of a large warehouse with a citizen performing CPR. This citizen was Mark Smith, a co-worker of the patient that was in cardiac arrest. According to Mr. Smith, while working, his co-worker became ill and collapsed. Mr. Smith immediately called 9-1-1 and immediately began CPR.

On November 6th at 0900 hours at the Manatee County Public Safety Building during the Manatee County monthly awards ceremony they provided Phoenix Award Recognitions to both Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Personnel as well as Manatee County Paramedics for saving the life of a cardiac arrest victim. However in addition to being recognized for saving the life of this patient, they actually were “Thanked” personally by the patient and his family.

To kick off this year’s Fire Prevention Week, the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District hosted an Open House on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at Fire Station #3 located at 7611 Prospect Road. Our Open House started at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 2:00 p.m. and hosted a series of events in support of this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign theme, “Look.Listen.Learn.”

On August 7th, 2018 Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District along with other Fire Districts and Manatee County EMS assisted Manatee County Sheriff’s Department with their Annual “Family Night Out” Program. Each agency provided equipment and personnel for display and in educating the public over Public Safety and it also provided an opportunity for children of all ages to have fun in learning about Public Safety.

The Manatee County Fire Chiefs’ Association awarded two Firefighting Academic Scholarships to area high school graduates during their June 28th meeting at City of Bradenton Fire Station #1

The Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District receives a check for $5000.00 for two (2) Safety grants that were submitted to the TIPS program. Captain Robert Thayer submitted two (2) grant applications for two (2) Safety equipment enhancements that the District implemented back in October 2017 for the purpose of reducing injures that could occur at the scene of a motor vehicle accident and structure fire.

On April 26th, 2018 the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District conducted their annual strategic planning workshop that involved all Officers and staff personnel.

On Wednesday, March 28 2018, Suzann Moore retired from the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District after completing ten (10) years of dedicated service to the District and to the citizens that she served. Suzann was assigned to our Fire Prevention Division and filled the position of Fire Prevention Secretary.

On November 19th and 20th, 2018, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue assisted Sarasota County Fire Department in their “Hands-only CPR Event” to high students at Booker High School. Over this two day period over 200 high school students were taught on how to recognize an emergency, calling 9-1-1 and then immediately beginning fast high quality compressions and doing this until Fire-Rescue arrives on scene or other bystanders show up and can assist in “Hands-only CPR”.

On August 29th, 2018 Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District hosted a seminar that was put on by the Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative, University of Miami Health System, Pierce Fire Apparatus and Ten 8 that pertained to Cancer in the Fire Service, awareness and prevention and how to properly decontaminate personnel after a fire or hazardous incident.

On June 21, 2018 the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Commissioners recognized Mr. Michael Damato for his generous donation of $5000.00 which was used to outfit all first out fire apparatus with the Handtevy Emergency Pediatric equipment.

On April 19th, 2018 Suzann Moore was recognized for her retirement after 10 years of service to the District. Suzann was assigned to Fire Prevention as their secretary, however Suzann did a lot for many people across all Divisions. Additionally the District recognized Firefighter/EMT Kiel Duquette, Firefighter/EMT Tim Keusch and Firefighter/EMT Richard McGinley for their actions in retrieving a citizen that went off bridge off of Honore Avenue in her pick-up truck.

On March 4th at 2236 hours, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District was dispatched to a report of structure fire. When our first Engine arrived on scene they reported a “Working Fire” in a residential home. When our personnel arrived on scene they found two Manatee County Sheriff Deputies already on scene. Deputy Peter Papas was first on scene and actually was in the area before the call came in to us a structure fire, it first came in as a burglar alarm, and law enforcement was dispatched, however immediately after this dispatch, the 9-1-1 center received multiple calls reporting a working fire.