BRADENTON – West Manatee Fire Rescue’s staff and commissioners celebrated excellence in the district with their annual awards ceremony.
The ceremony, held Feb. 15 at the district’s administration building, celebrated the hard work and dedication of the fire district’s staff and first responders with their family, friends and co-workers in attendance.
Taking home awards for five years of service to the district were firefighters Frank Agresta, Clayton Lease and Andrew Powers. Powers also won WMFR’s Meritorious Service Award. Honored for 10 years of service with WMFR were Fire Inspector Josh Adkins, firefighter Robert Haygood and newly-promoted Battalion Chief Tyler MacDonald. Recognized for 15 years of service to the district were firefighter John Balzer, Deputy Chief Jay Johnson and Lt. Andrew Lauricella. Taking home awards for 20 years of service at WMFR were Capt. Paul Hopkins and Lt. Daniel Tackett. Recognized for 25 years of service was Lt. Darren Vollmer.
The Rookie of the Year Award went to firefighter Gabriel Gonzalez, while Haygood won Firefighter of the Year. Hopkins took home the Officer of the Year Award.
Winning the first-ever Soteria Award was Fire Inspector Keith Miller. The Soteria Award, named for the Greek goddess of safety, deliverance and preservation from harm, was created by Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski with the support of Chief Ben Rigney to honor a firefighter or member of the district’s Fire Prevention Bureau who exemplifies one of the three qualities of Soteria. Every member of the district’s fire staff is eligible to win the award except the fire chief, deputy chief and fire marshal.
Miller took home the first Soteria Award for his dedication and uncompromising work with fire prevention to educate WMFR staff and the public about fire safety and work to help educate contractors about best practices to reduce false/nuisance alarm calls to district personnel over the past year.
