The West Manatee Fire Rescue district’s vacation rental inspection program fell short of its goal in its first year.
But additional staff and an established process might lead to a better second year.
Fire marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski told The Islander May 1 that district staff had inspected 735 out of about 4,633 registered vacation rental properties, with another 170 inspections scheduled, four months into the 2025 calendar year.
The district covers Anna Maria Island and west Bradenton. It established a vacation rental inspection program in 2024 with two inspectors and two staff members to lead the efforts.
According to Kwiatkowski, staff inspected 3,216 vacation rentals for compliance with the Florida Fire Prevention Code over the program’s first calendar year.
Kwiatkowski said WMFR fell short of its goal to inspect all vacation rentals in the district — in part due to challenges presented by hurricanes Helene and Milton — but he gave the first-year effort an A-plus.
“We didn’t complete them all,” Kwiatkowski said. “But we’ve known from the beginning that there were going to be some growing pains.”
“I can’t imagine things going much better considering the circumstances. … Our staff is diligent, working hard and they’re professional,” he added.
This year, the district has five inspectors working on rotation six days a week, completing up to almost 20 inspections per day.
WMFR also plans to hire a sixth inspector in October, with the start of fiscal 2025-26, according to Kwiatkowski.
The district is exploring another change moving forward: the adoption of the Florida Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act.
Kwiatkowski said WMFR’s adoption of the act would allow staff already inspecting vacation rentals for compliance with the FFPC to also check swimming pools for compliance with state law.
He said the district, which also provides paramedic services, runs many drowning calls — often pediatric drownings — and hopes to reduce them through inspections.
“We’re tired of running these drownings, especially the pediatric ones. It’s devastating,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s a benefit to the customer as well because they can just get that one-stop comprehensive inspection by us and be done.”
One challenge the district’s inspection program still faces is a lawsuit filed by Holmes Beach-based C&D Properties of AMI, LLC.
C&D sued in February 2024 arguing that the district’s new fire assessments to fund the program violate state law. Vacation rental owners previously paid residential assessment rates, but are now assessed as commercial properties, a higher tax rate.
Kwiatkowski said that some rental owners may be holding out on allowing WMFR to inspect their properties until the lawsuit is resolved.
The lawsuit’s non-jury trial period will begin Aug. 11, following a 9 a.m. July 31 pre-trial conference.