On Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 1100 hours, the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District held their annual Awards Ceremony/Banquet. The food was provided by Sonny’s BBQ and once again it was free to us because of FF/EMT Chuck Moonen Haz-mat Chili winning again 1st Place and People Choice Awards for the 2017 Chili Cook-off – Thank you again FF/EMT Chuck Moonen. Southern Manatee Fire Rescue has won “People’s Choice” three (3) years in a row.
Before dinning on this great food, the District presented the following employee’s with the following awards for 2017:
Rookie of the Year – Firefighter/EMT Cliff Smith
Firefighter of the Year – Firefighter/EMT Rich Gatanis
Officer of the Year – Captain/EMT Robert Thayer
Staff Employee of the Year – Inspector Larry Betts
After the giving out the awards and eating Sonny’s BBQ, Santa made a stop at the Administration Building and brought presents for all of the kids that attended. Santa arrived on the District’s new 107’ Ladder Truck.
Both Santa and the kids had fun and even the BIG kids. Our Awards Banquet ran from 1100 hours to 1400 hours and was held at the Administration Building so that all of our on-duty personnel could be rotated through to enjoy this meal.
The District would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District Woman’s Auxiliary for their hard work in setting up and placing Christmas decorations throughout the Commissioner Chambers and Training Room for our event, “Thank you”.