Effective public safety does not begin when an emergency occurs; it begins long before, through planning, prevention, leadership and accountability.
In 2025, West Manatee Fire Rescue (WMFR) experienced a year of independent recognition that offers the community a clear view into how its fire department is structured, led and supported across all levels of service.
Both of Florida’s fire service professional associations – the Florida Fire Chiefs’ Association (FFCA) and the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association (FFMIA) – recognized WMFR leadership during the same year. These honors were peer-driven, statewide recognitions based on performance, impact and contribution to the fire service.
FFCA and FFMIA named WMFR’s Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski as the Florida Fire Marshal of the Year. FFCA also recognized Deputy Chief Jay Johnson as the Florida Executive Fire Officer of the Year and Fire Inspector Josh Adkins as the Florida Fire Inspector of the Year.
While each award highlights individual achievement, taken together they reflect something broader: an organization functioning at the highest level.
Fire prevention and community risk reduction form the foundation of modern public safety. Recognition of the Fire Marshal of the Year reflects sustained efforts to reduce risk before emergencies occur through engineering, education, enforcement, community risk assessment, risk reduction programming and collaboration with community partners.
This work plays a critical role in protecting lives and property while contributing to long-term economic stability. Effective prevention is not reactive; it is deliberate, data-informed and integrated into broader organizational strategic planning.
Prevention alone, however, is not sufficient without strong executive leadership to support it. Executive leadership in public safety includes operational readiness, workforce development and organizational accountability. The Executive Fire Officer of the Year award recognizes leadership that aligns training, staffing and response capabilities with the evolving needs of the community. Exceptional operations leadership ensures that when emergencies do occur, personnel are prepared, systems function as intended and services are delivered consistently and safely.
Behind these recognitions is an organizational leadership philosophy that emphasizes trust, accountability and professional autonomy. WMFR Fire Chief Ben Rigney has focused on assembling qualified leaders, setting clear expectations and allowing those leaders to carry out their responsibilities. This approach has enabled prevention and operations to function collaboratively rather than in isolation, producing sustained results rather than one-time successes.
That leadership philosophy is ultimately reflected in the work that occurs every day in neighborhoods, businesses and public spaces. The Fire Inspector of the Year award highlights the impact of professional, consistent fieldwork that translates policy and standards into tangible safety outcomes. Public education, inspections and other safety compliance efforts often receive little public attention, yet they remain essential to protecting lives and property.
BRADENTON – West Manatee Fire Rescue District (WMFR) Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski is the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association’s 2025 Florida Fire Marshal of the Year.
The award was presented to Kwiatkowski during the opening ceremony of the 77th Annual Florida Fire Prevention Conference on Nov. 3 at the Coral Springs Marriott.
“This award celebrates Kwiatkowski’s exceptional leadership, innovation and commitment to advancing fire and life safety both locally and statewide,” the WMFR press release says.
The press release notes the distinguished honor was bestowed upon Kwiatkowski by his peers and the award is regarded as “one of the highest professional recognitions in Florida’s fire service community.”
Kwiatkowski will also be recognized by the Division of State Fire Marshal and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia during the 2026 Florida legislative session in Tallahassee. As a tribute to this achievement, Kwiatkowski’s name will be permanently engraved on a trophy displayed in the rotunda of the Florida State Fire College as a lasting symbol of excellence and service to the profession.
Fire Marshall Rodney Kwiatkowski helped launch WMFR’s mandatory vacation rental inspection program in 2023. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
In the press release, WMFR Fire Chief Ben Rigney said, “Rodney’s leadership has elevated our prevention and community risk-reduction programs to statewide prominence. His recognition as Fire Marshal of the Year reflects not only his dedication but the professionalism and teamwork of everyone at West Manatee Fire Rescue.”
The press release notes that under Kwiatkowski’s direction, WMFR has implemented data-driven Community Risk Reduction initiatives, enhanced short-term rental fire safety programs and expanded public education outreach, earning statewide and national recognition for measurable improvements in community safety. And those achievements “underscore WMFR’s ongoing dedication to excellence in engineering, education and enforcement – the core values that continue to define the district’s fire and life safety mission.”
“I am deeply humbled to receive this honor,” Kwiatkowski said in the press release. “It’s truly a career milestone and a reflection of the collective commitment of our WMFR team to protect lives and property through innovation, collaboration and service. I am grateful to Chief Rigney for his continued support, my peers and the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association for this incredible recognition.”
In an era where residential elevators are increasingly common in single-family occupancies, homeowners must recognize the potential safety risks these systems pose, particularly during emergencies.
While elevators enhance accessibility and convenience, they also present unique challenges for both occupants and first responders. Without proactive planning, these systems can transform from assets to liabilities, especially in high-stress situations such as medical emergencies or fires.
One of the most critical, yet often overlooked, aspects of home elevator safety is the proper placement and availability of elevator keys. These keys are not only essential for daily maintenance but also serve as vital tools during emergency response. Homeowners within the West Manatee Fire Rescue (WMFR) district are encouraged to consult with the Fire Marshal’s Office about the best practices for key placement, ideally in a secure yet easily accessible location known to both the homeowner and WMFR. This proactive approach ensures that first responders have immediate access during emergencies, mitigating the risks associated with delays.
Unlike commercial elevators, which typically use standardized keys, such as the drop key or lunar key, many private home elevator systems utilize proprietary keys specific to the manufacturer or installer. This proprietary nature can severely limit access for first responders during critical incidents and can delay life-saving interventions or potentially cause significant damage to the home.
Homeowners with proprietary keys are asked to coordinate with their elevator manufacturer or installer to obtain additional copies. Keeping these keys readily available and informing WMFR of their existence and location can dramatically improve response times and safety outcomes.
In summary, while single-family home elevator systems offer unparalleled convenience, they require diligent safety planning. West Manatee Fire Rescue emphasizes the importance of homeowners coordinating with the Fire Marshal’s Office regarding elevator key placement to reduce risks to personal safety, property damage and ensure a coordinated emergency response. Homeowners must recognize that a simple key, often proprietary, can mean the difference between a quick rescue and a costly tragedy.
Proactive communication and planning are essential for safeguarding both residents and first responders in the face of elevator-related emergencies.
BRADENTON BEACH – Along with FEMA guidelines and city flood ordinances, fire code and setback regulations have become part of the discussion about the continued existence of 86 mobile homes at the Pines Trailer Park.
Following the storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Building Official Darin Cushing said in October that FEMA guidelines characterized the subsequent water intrusion into the Pines’ mobile homes as major damage triggering a city ordinance requiring elevation of the units.
On Oct. 29, West Manatee Fire Rescue District (WMFR) Fire Marshall Rodney Kwiatkowski drafted a letter outlining fire safety and regulatory standards to be followed for all new mobile home installations at the Pines.
Citing Florida Administrative Code 69A-42: Uniform Fire Safety Standards for Mobile Home Parks and Recreational Vehicle Parks, Kwiatkowski’s letter states “Specific attention must be given to Section 69A-42.0041, which governs the required setbacks between structures.”
That regulation states that no portion of a mobile home, excluding the tongue, shall be located closer than 10 feet side-to-side, 8 feet end-to-side, or 6 feet end-to-end horizontally from any other mobile home or community building.
“The city has reached out to the property owner to discuss some of the concerns about the health, safety, and welfare there and I’ve had a number of conversations with Shawn Kaleta and Sam Negrin about what their plans are and how we can all work together to save as much of the community there as possible,” City Attorney Ricinda Perry said on Nov. 1.
Kaleta is the manager of Pines Park Investors, LLC, which owns the Pines Trailer Park. Negrin has been the spokesperson for the LLC at recent public meetings.
“I think we’ve come up with a solution that complies with the FEMA regulations and the city’s floodplain ordinance as well as the Florida Building Code,” Perry said. “We’re looking forward to solidifying that plan and putting it forward at the city commission meeting to the commission for approval in as much of an expedited timeframe as possible.”
Perry said the Pines Trailer Park will be a topic of discussion at the Nov. 7 city commission meeting. Public comment will be allowed at that meeting.
“Because of a discussion in the field with the West Manatee Fire Rescue (WMFR) District about elevating the buildings and also some fire separation, a large number of trailers in the Pines are actually out of compliance with setbacks as it relates to the city’s codes as well as the West Manatee Fire District codes, so Rodney (Kwiatkowski) issued a letter saying as you’re doing the restoration it needs to meet those setback requirements,” Perry said.
“Ultimately the property owner has the right to make sure that that development, as it relates to public health, safety, and welfare, addresses their concerns. You don’t want to have another situation where every single structure floods out,” Perry said. “They’re working with the city to find a way to make that happen.”
Perry said the Pines ownership’s goal is to have the Pines community stay in that section of the city.
“There are setbacks that we know about, there are densities and intensities, there’s zoning and comp plan provisions, so it’s just a matter of laying that all out and coming up with an organized game plan to get that park staying a part of the community here in the city,” she said.
West Manatee Fire Rescue letter
Kwiatkowski said he drafted the Oct. 29 letter at the request of the city and a copy was made available to the city and Kaleta.
“Please be advised that all new installations at your park shall meet the NFPA 501A: Standard for Fire Safety Criteria for Manufactured Home Installations, Sites, and Communities, 2017 Edition,” the letter states in part. “This standard outlines critical fire safety criteria for the construction, installation, and maintenance of manufactured homes and their surrounding areas.”
In addition, the letter states that compliance with the Florida Administrative Code 69A-42: Uniform Fire Safety Standards for Mobile Home Parks and Recreational Vehicle Parks is mandatory.
Setbacks must be adhered to unless one of the following conditions is met:
The exposed composite walls and roof of either structure are without openings and constructed with materials that provide a one-hour fire resistance rating.
A one-hour fire-rated barrier separates the structures.
The Bradenton Beach City Commission meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Katie Pierola Commission Chambers, 107 Gulf Dr. N.
HOLMES BEACH – On Oct. 1, West Manatee Fire Rescue (WMFR) will begin mandatory annual inspections of all short-term vacation rentals in the fire district that includes Anna Maria Island, Cortez and portions of west Bradenton.
The WMFR inspections are separate from the vacation rental inspections conducted by the cities of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach.
Bradenton resident and Holmes Beach vacation rental owner Michael Wilcox volunteered his three-unit Casa Coconut AMI vacation rental as the first to be inspected and reinspected. Wilcox is a retired fire lieutenant from the Miami Valley Fire District in Miamisburg, Ohio and still holds an active Ohio fire safety inspector certificate. The former firefighter offered his vacation rental units as an official trial run for WMFR and he conducted his own inspection before the WMFR inspection took place.
“I came up with what I think are 19 violations in my three units and some of them are repetitive. I didn’t fix anything before the WMFR inspection,” he said.
Inspection checklist
The WMFR inspections utilize the one-page checklist posted at the WMFR website, www.wmfr.org/short-term-vacation-rental-information.
The vacation rental inspection checklist is posted at www.WMFR.org. – WMFR | Submitted
The checklist includes properly displayed street numbers, properly maintained wall-mounted fire extinguishers, emergency lights at primary exits, smoke alarms in each bedroom, additional smoke alarms in common areas and hallways and carbon monoxide alarms in rentals with gas appliances or attached garages. The checklist notes golf carts are to be charged in a well-ventilated area, with a carbon monoxide detector required.
Vacation rental fire extinguishers should not be stored on the floor. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
All electrical circuits shall be properly identified and extension cords shall not be used as permanent wiring. Dryer ducts must be free of accumulated lint and all paths of ingress and egress shall be kept clear and unobstructed.
A copy of the vacation rental owner’s annual transient public lodging establishment (TPLE) license issued by Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) must be included in the guest information book. The guest information book must also include fire safety information describing the evacuation of the dwelling, smoke detector information, procedures for reporting a fire or other emergency and a unit-specific floor plan that identifies each room and the primary and secondary exits, including the windows.
Initial inspection
On Aug. 21, Wilcox welcomed WMFR Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski, Lt. Inspector Keith Miller and Inspector Josh Adkins to the vacation rental he and his wife own near Manatee Beach.
Rodney Kwiatkowski, Josh Adkins and Keith Miller inspected the exterior of Michael Wilcox’s vacation rental dwelling. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Miller and Adkins began by inspecting the exterior of the dwelling, including the ground-level parking and storage areas and the laundry room.
“We’re looking at everything outside the structure,” Miller said.
As they inspected each rental unit, Adkins entered the observed violations, photographs of the observed violations and additional notes into the handheld digital inspection pad that produced the electronic inspection report emailed to Wilcox.
A smoke detector was missing in one of the Casa Coconut AMI bedrooms. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
The inspection revealed missing or improperly located smoke alarms, non-wall mounted fire extinguishers, fire extinguishers that had not been inspected and certified within the past year, no battery-powered emergency lights near the primary exits and no unit-specific floor plan in each guest information book. Wilcox was given 45 days to correct the violations and schedule a reinspection.
Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski inspected one of Michael Wilcox’s smoke detectors. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
“Vacation rental owners and managers should embrace this process because it’s going to save lives,” Kwiatkowski said, noting that last year more than 73% of the residential fires in the district occurred at vacation rentals.
“As long as it’s not a violation that poses imminent danger, a grace period of 45 days will be allowed to become compliant. The Florida Fire Prevention Code gives us flexibility and we’ll weigh all options and come up with the best solutions when applicable,” he added.
“If you rent or advertise for rent your place three or more times for less than 30 days at a time you need a TPLE license from DBPR; and the state fire marshal’s office says we have to inspect these TPLEs annually. We have roughly 3,000 vacation rentals that are appropriately registered through DBPR. We are told by three different software companies that we likely have closer to 5,000 vacation rentals in our district.”
A recently-approved WMFR resolution formalized the fire district’s intent to categorize vacation rentals as commercial properties, rather than residential properties, for the WMFR tax assessments that appear on a property owner’s annual property tax bill. The increased tax revenues will help cover the fire district’s increased inspection costs and letters were sent to property owners informing them of the commercial assessment rate.
Kwiatkowski said anyone who wishes to challenge the district’s right to inspect short-term vacation rentals would be challenging the Florida Fire Code adopted by state legislators.
“They’re taking on the state of Florida, because they’re the ones that wrote the law,” Kwiatkowski said.
“The code tells us we have to do this,” Adkins added.
“Our goal is to work with property owners/managers to gain compliance,” Kwiatkowski said. “If, and I stress if, a property owner/manager were to refuse to meet the minimum fire and life safety standards required under Florida Administrative Code 69A-43, we would use the full force of our state enforcement powers, including, but not limited to fines or shutting down the business in order to keep the public and first responders safe. That’s a scenario I am hoping will be avoided through good quality public education.”
Wilcox said he spoke with other vacation rental owners and property managers who expressed anxiety about WMFR classifying vacation rentals as commercial properties for taxation purposes.
“I got my tax bill yesterday and it’s going to go up $700, total, for all three units on this property. Nobody wants to pay more, but I don’t mind paying that because I think there’s value in having this program,” Wilcox said.
Follow-up inspection
On Sept. 13, Kwiatkowski, Adkins and Inspector Nick Riffe returned for the follow-up reinspection that revealed all previous violations were corrected.
Josh Adkins, Nick Riffe, Michael Wilcox and Rodney Kwiatkowski were present during the follow-up inspection. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Wilcox displayed his rechargeable emergency lights that plug into an electrical outlet near the main exit and come on when the power goes off. He bought them at Amazon.com for about $10 each and also placed one in each bedroom.
Rechargeable emergency lights have been placed throughout the Casa Coconut AMI rental units. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Regarding his now-wall-mounted fire extinguishers, Wilcox said some rental owners he spoke with expressed consternation about the aesthetics of wall-mounted fire extinguishers versus placing them under the sink or in some other less conspicuous location.
“Aesthetics don’t save lives,” Kwiatkowski said.
Fire extinguishers must be wall-mounted in a vacation rental unit. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Wilcox spent about $500 correcting his violations.
“Next year it’ll be about $100 to have the extinguishers serviced and my taxes are going up about $700,” Wilcox said of his future compliance costs.
When asked what he learned during the inspections, Wilcox said, “It confirmed to me that the intent isn’t to close down vacation rentals. The intent is to make them safer.”
Wilcox noted that for the past several years the Florida Legislature has unsuccessfully attempted to preempt all short-term rental regulation to the state and take that authority away from local governments.
“Eventually it’s going to pass. When that happens, it’s going to take the enforcement away from the cities, but it won’t affect the WMFR inspections. There will still be something in place that’s not negated by future legislation,” Wilcox said.
“A lot of the property owners are worried about what the inspections will include and how extreme they’re going to be,” Adkins said. “This wasn’t a hard task for Mike. It was simple and it took seven days – and the majority of that time was waiting for the fire extinguisher company inspection.”
“Our goal is to support local businesses and ensure that they’re safe so the guests keep coming back. We’re asking vacation rental owners and managers to go to our website and schedule their inspections,” Kwiatkowski said.
BRADENTON BEACH – The Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge #2188 has a new kitchen that’s open for business for members and guests.
Located in Bradenton Beach, the Moose Lodge’s new kitchen features a 6-foot indoor grill, four convection ovens, a large flat-top grill, a new fryer, a 10-burner gas range, a broiler and a new concrete floor that replaced the old wooden floor.
The new kitchen opened on Wednesday, May 12, and business has been brisk.
“It’s been non-stop,” chef and kitchen manager Zack Machleit said.
“It’s definitely a state-of-the-art kitchen. We doubled the size of the grill and the flat-top, added a 105-pound. fryer and doubled the convection ovens. We can serve twice the amount of people in half the time,” he noted.
The new Moose Lodge kitchen features a new, larger fryer. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
While the renovations took place, Machleit and his kitchen crew often worked outside in a makeshift grilling area that offered a limited menu.
“That was the longest 15 months of my life,” Machleit said of the renovation process and the wait for the new kitchen to open.
Lodge Administrator Byron Dalton is also pleased to have the kitchen open again.
“We have had the kitchen open for two weeks now and the response has been absolutely phenomenal. We have much more cooking space and the ability to feed people faster. It’s made it easier on our men who work in the kitchen. We have an upgraded menu and our members are happy,” Dalton said. “It’s a boost to the Moose economy. We’ve got our waitresses working again, the bartenders are busy and people are coming back again. It’s amazing what a new kitchen can do.”
The kitchen renovations coincided with the Moose shutting down in early 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dalton said the plan was to tear the old kitchen apart and have a new kitchen ready to go when the lodge reopened, but the project encountered some unanticipated delays along the way.
“A special thanks to WMFR Fire Marshall Rodney Kwiatkowski and Bradenton Beach Building Official Steve Gilbert. They were great to work with and they made suggestions that helped us get this done right,” Dalton said.
In addition to the regular menu, the Moose Lodge #2188 kitchen also offers daily specials that include Reuben sandwiches on Monday, pizza on Wednesday and a prime rib dinner on Friday. Plans are also in the works for a Sunday brunch that’s expected to start in early June.
The AMI Moose Lodge kitchen is open from noon until 8 p.m. daily, and the lodge is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily. You can view the upgraded AMI Moose Lodge menu at the lodge’s new website.
