After the Manatee County Commission gave its final approval Sept. 14 to East Manatee Fire Rescue absorbing the Myakka City Fire Control District, the latter will cease to exist Oct. 1.
Lee Whitehurst, East Manatee's fire chief, and Danny Cacchiotti, the Myakka City chief, say they have been planning for months so Myakka City residents won't notice any change in service.
Employees of both districts have spent time working at both the Myakka City and East County stations.
“Between now and then, it’ll be more of an operational game plan on how to reassign and start mixing our crews going forward. That includes the volunteers that we have,” Whitehurst said.
East Manatee has had volunteer firefighters in its past, including Whitehurst. He said a committee has been working over the last three months to absorb and accept the Myakka City volunteers.