The City of Bradenton is a vibrant city of over 50,000 people

in the middle of Florida’s beautiful west coast. Bradenton is

a Tampa Bay coastal community of approximately 15
square miles located on the mile-wide Manatee River. The
Mayor Wayne H. Poston
county seat of Manatee County, Bradenton is the home to
nationally known businesses such as Tropicana and
Champs Sports and is the spring training camp host for the
Pittsburgh Pirates. For more information, please visit us at
www.cityofbradenton.com.
 Chuck Edwards
Fire Chief

Table of Contents
Agency Overview …….………………... 2
Values….……………………………………. 3
Vision………………………………………... 3
Organizational Chart…………...……... 4
Budget………………………………………. 4
Administrative Support……………... 5
Activities Summary……………………. 6
Training…………………………….………. 8
Retirements and
Suppression Personnel………............ 9
Fire Prevention Bureau…………….... 14
Goals and Objectives….………………..16
In the Community.…..….……………….29
Retired Captain Frank Wankowski served the City of
Bradenton from July 1, 1985 to November 18, 2002.
He passed away on January 1, 2017.

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
The Bradenton Fire Department serves the city in a fire suppression, fire prevention, first responder,
and emergency management capacity. We operate from three stations with 73 full-time positions.
Career suppression personnel make up 63 positions, divided equally among three shifts. The balance
is Fire Prevention (5), Training (1), and Administration (4). We respond to about 5,000 calls for ser-
vice annually utilizing five basic life support (BLS) engine companies and two aerial ladders, special
operations/technical rescue and marine rescue units, and a cadre of rescue and safety equipment.

Station 2 Station 3
Gene Gallo Central Station 1
1401 7th Avenue East 2901 59th Street West
1010 9th Avenue West
Bradenton, FL 34208 Bradenton, FL 34209
Bradenton, FL 34205
Phone: 941.708.6244 Phone: 941.708.6254
Phone:941.932.9600 | Fax:941.932.9640

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 The values of the City of Bradenton Fire Department
are summarized in the acronym “S.E.R.V.I.C.E.” as a
reflection of our commitment to our mission,
vision, each other, and the community we serve.

VISION
By 2018, the City of Bradenton Fire Department will be widely recognized by our community,
stakeholders and peers, as a professional fire service organization which places a high premium
on service excellence.
Our workforce culture will reflect a responsible and respectful team atmosphere that is
nurtured by open communication processes which guide the decisions of our personnel. We
will have a well-trained, physically fit, diverse, and empowered work force that will be actively
involved and invested in our success. We will encourage, mentor and develop our personnel to
reach their greatest potential.
Enhancement or improvement of our human and physical resources will ensure our community
receives the service they entrust us to provide. We will honor that trust by carrying out our
duties in the most effective, efficient and fiscally-responsible manner. Our belief in getting out of
the stations and into the community will further expand our community information and
involvement so that our organizational priorities and operations are clearly understood.
Through the pursuit and achievement of our goals, as well as maintaining our internationally
accredited status, we will demonstrate continuous improvement and best practices in the
delivery of all services. It is our unified intent to meet or exceed the expectations of our
community and to hold one another accountable for carrying out our mission, living our values,
and ensuring that this vision becomes reality.
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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 (Though reflected here, the 1 DFM
position is currently unfunded)

BUDGET
FY16-17 Budget: FY17-18 Budget:
$9,308,561 $9,657,690

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 The BFD’s administrative support is provided by Rebecca Desch and Wendy
Dixon. Together, they carried out their respective primary duties
(summarized below) as well as other assignments that arose throughout the
year.

Rebecca Desch, FAEM

Program Administrator

Wendy S. Dixon
Administrative Secretary

Volunteer Larry Covins

Administrative volunteer Mr.

Larry Covins has contributed
thousands of hours since
2003, assisting with data
entry, research, and infor-
mation analysis. He is also a
member of the Bradenton
Firefighters Pension Board.

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 It gives me great pleasure to report on the accomplishments we were able to achieve
in 2017 due to the significant impacts they had on improving safety and operations
at the Bradenton Fire Department. First, we were successful in being awarded by
FEMA for a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant
which facilitated the hiring of six additional firefighters in November. And while the
grant enabled the city to restore staffing levels to pre-recession numbers, a more sig-
nificant outcome was a result of the strengthened partnerships we have developed
with neighboring jurisdictions over the past several years. The combination of those
agreements with the SAFER grant has now provided the department with the capa-
bility to deploy a NFPA 1710 response on all structure fires, which means we now
respond with no less than 15 personnel and have a goal to have the entire response
force on scene within ten minutes or less. What this means for field operations is that
all identified critical tasks are performed by firefighters, or crews of firefighters, as-
David Ezell, CFO
Assistant Chief
signed solely to that function, ensuring that safe and effective fireground operations
on working fires occur more rapidly.
Complementing our staffing improvements is a series of enhancements that have been underway to improve our emer-
gency dispatching and communications systems. This past year we implemented automatic vehicle location (AVL)
technology in our CAD system, providing capability for automatic response timestamping and closest unit response.
This technology also compliments the CAD-to-CAD interface with Manatee County that is expected to be completed
in early March. This interface will provide capability to electronically transfer calls between centers and the AVL
component will show real-time unit location and availability. All of which will help reduce overall response times and
improve service delivery to the community.
In August of 2017, we took delivery of our custom engine from Pierce Manufacturing and placed it online as Engine
412. This engine was the result of countless hours spent by the Apparatus Specification Committee evaluating various
chassis lines and hundreds of options for each to incorporate the latest safety features and select the best overall de-
sign for the department. The committee’s investment resulted in an engine that meets our current and future needs,
provides a blueprint for future acquisitions, and last but not least, established a color scheme that will uniquely identi-
fy our fleet in the local area.
In conclusion, we still have a long list of things we need to accomplish, but the momentum in addressing these items
has been increasing and we will continue our efforts to make these projects a reality. It’s also important to remember
that the public, our customers, makes what we do possible and our current financial environment is a perfect oppor-
tunity for us to explain to them how their tax dollars are being put to work to deliver a better service at times when
they need it the most.

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Total Incidents by Type and by Year (2012-2017)
Incident Type 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Fire Calls 184 159 143 134 143 156
Overpressure, Explosion (no fire) 6 13 11 10 9 3
Rescue & EMS Incident 4,209 3,928 3,735 3,434 3,138 3,234
Hazardous Condition (no fire) 183 186 166 145 126 138
Service Calls 196 202 99 123 128 129
Good Intent Calls 423 318 286 219 204 246
Fire Alarm, False Calls 629 538 523 568 475 493
Severe Weather 5 2 2 0 3 1
Special Incident Type 6 4 5 6 2 6
Totals 5,841 5,350 4,970 4,639 4,228 4,406
% increase (decrease) year over year 9.2% 7.6% 7.1% 9.7% (4%) 6.4%

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Eddie Corsino
Captain/Training Director

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Dennis Bonneau
Fire Inspector
Hired 1/2/2006
Retired 1/3/2017

Personnel are reflected in ranks as they were at the end of the calendar year.

SHIFT SUPPRESSION PERSONNEL

David Foxall Timothy Geer Steve Trompke

Battalion Chief Battalion Chief Battalion Chief

Jeff Bruski Matt Sawyer Dana Tindall, FO

Captain Captain Captain

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Personnel are reflected in ranks as they were at the end of the calendar year.

LIEUTENANTS

Chris Campbell Ken Campbell Brian Canaday

Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant

Barry Cornelison John Mantone Ernie Pena

Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant

James Reynolds Timothy Skinner William Weaver

Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Promoted HIRED Promoted Promoted
to FF 3/C 11/6/17 to FF 2/C to FF 2/C

Rommel Arostegui Joseph Baker Jacob Barwick Brandon Beals Brad Bischoff
Charge EMT Firefighter Firefighter Firefighter Firefighter

HIRED Promoted
11/6/17 to FF 4/C

Pierre Blackwin Adam Casteel Louis Chiocchio Brad Courtney Jordan Desear
FF/Engineer Firefighter FF/Engineer FF/Engineer Firefighter

Promoted
to FF 2/C

Jeremy D’Urso Josh Eriksen Thomas Ferrett Sam Fronek Jared Gould
Firefighter FF/Engineer Charge EMT Charge EMT Charge EMT

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Promoted Promoted HIRED
to FF 3/C to FF 2/C 11/6/17

Ryan Harris Lionel Harrison Daniel Hedgeman Shawn Heinlein Robert Hinton
Firefighter Firefighter Charge EMT FF/Engineer Firefighter

HIRED Promoted
11/6/17 to FF 3/C

Joe Hooper David Ianero Richard Jenkins George Keyzer Mike King
Charge EMT Firefighter Firefighter Firefighter FF/Engineer

Promoted HIRED
to FF 3/C 11/6/17

Mark Kushto Jared Manning Mike Martin Matt McCabe Martin McHugh
Charge EMT Firefighter Charge EMT FF/Engineer Firefighter

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 Promoted
to 4/C

Jeremy Nance George Norris Jim Papa Corey Phipps Brian Piazza
Charge EMT Charge EMT FF/Engineer Firefighter Firefighter

Tony Price Josh Rice Steve Rissler Mike Ritchie Ricardo Rivera
FF/Engineer FF/Engineer FF/Engineer FF/Engineer FF/Engineer

Promoted Promoted
to 2/C to EMT

Rocco Salvatori Kris Santiago Jeff Schmucker Joe Torretta Jim Turner
FF/Engineer Firefighter FF/Engineer Charge EMT Firefighter

HIRED Promoted
11/6/17 to 1/C

Jon Turpin
Charge EMT
Donald Viehman
Firefighter
Nick Winchell
Firefighter 13
 FIRE INSPECTORS

Kenneth Langston
Fire Marshal Chris Melser Shawn Macy Teri Pierson
The bureau consists of the Fire Marshal, three Fire Inspectors, and a Hydrant Specialist. To effectively execute the
Bureau duties and responsibilities, each of the three inspectors are assigned a specific area to oversee along with
other duties:
 Public Education and State Mandated Inspections. (Pierson)
 Plans Review and Construction Inspections. (Melser)
 Follow-ups on fire system annual inspection reports and required fire watches. (Macy)
In January 2017, we wished Inspector Dennis Bonneau a happy retirement and welcomed Chris Melser to the
Bureau. Throughout the year, we saw continued growth and construction in the city. New projects included the
Preserves at Riverwalk Apartments, Grand Palms Senior Apartments, and Margaretville’s One Particular Harbour
Marina and homes - among several others. We remained busy with fire and life safety code inspections of existing
businesses, and re-inspection to ensure code compliance as part of our effort to provide a safer community. As
prevention is a primary focus, we continued to enhance fire prevention programs and community risk prevention
through education. And, in preparation for Hurricane Irma, the bureau evaluated high risk hazards (e.g.: hospitals,
nursing homes, evacuation shelters) to ensure they were protected and fully functional prior to and post storm.
In 2018, we aim to continue supporting our community with the educational tools and responsive services that
contribute to risk reduction.

Dennis Williams
Hydrant Maintenance Specialist

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2015 Annual Performance Report
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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 2017’s “Fill the Boot” campaign
raised $8,069 for MDA.
Thank you, Bradenton!

NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATORS WEEK

Since 1991, the second full week of April has

been dedicated to recognizing public safety
telecommunicators. While we appreciate our
dispatchers every day, the BFD gave special
thanks and a special delivery during the
recognition week.

Thanks to all Bradenton Emergency Communication Center dispatchers for being on our team!

In August 2017, the BFD welcomed school-

children back to class and reminded
drivers on busy thoroughfares to be
mindful of pedestrians and school zones.

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report
 THANK YOU to all the ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
sponsors, donors, and players for a great IMG Academy Golf Club
2017 BFFA fundraising golf tournament!
Event profit of more than $5,600
contributed to BFFA outreach efforts.

ANNUAL PARTY FOR THE HAVEN

For more than 40 years, the BFFA and BFD members have delivered
Christmas joy to the children and adults of The Haven. On December 14,
2017, dozens of department and family members served lunch to more
Special THANKS to
than 200 children, adult residents and clients, and staff in attendance. Xzavier Williams and his
After lunch, Santa and elves arrived via Engine 1 to deliver gifts enjoyed Uncle Nick’s Bagels -
by everyone! Bradenton crew
for their very generous
This event is fully funded by the BFFA and delivered by volunteers. contribution of lunch and
Many hours prior to the event went in to planning and preparation. volunteer time!
Great thanks goes out to ALL BFFA members for their continued
support, and to the volunteers who graciously gave of their time.

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City of Bradenton Fire Department 2017 Annual Performance Report