Fish, Friends, and Firefighters: Broadview Volunteer Fire Dept. Hosts First Fish Fry of 2025
- Terri Carter
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
It was a beautiful day for fish and fundraising last Saturday as the Broadview Volunteer Fire Department hosted their Fish Fry Fundraiser event. The family friendly event comes around twice a year and is the primary fundraiser event for the department, giving them the opportunity to raise money for equipment and operational costs.
Broadview Volunteer Fire Department has 21 firefighters. Out of those 21 volunteer flame fighters, 11 of them are certified and four are in fire school and awaiting the June 14th date to attend their state school live-burn training in order complete their certification.
Last year, the department had 152 answered calls. Broadview is one of the three volunteer departments in the community that also has the ability to run medical response calls in addition to fire calls. The medical calls will come in and page the department out, allowing them to act as a triage between the person needing medical assistance and the ambulance service. Out of the 152 answered calls last year, 104 of those calls were medical.
Broadview Volunteer Fire Department Board President Jeremy Price stated what a big help the medical services have been to the community.
“We’re one of the few volunteer fire departments that do medical calls and it’s been a big help to the people around here for sure.”, stated Price. “Every time they go to a medical call, often Steve (Macon) gets there before the ambulance or the county sheriff. So, it’s been able to help the community in a big way for that. And our plans are to continue to do that.”
Not only serving their expansive designated coverage area, the department also serves as automatic mutual aid to other fire departments in the community.
“We have automatic mutual aid.”, stated Broadview Fire Chief Steve Macon. “Which means we will respond to a structure fire in North Franklin County, Belvidere, Winchester. Whatever they need, we respond to it.”
With the growing numbers in not only community members, but also in the number of people willing to volunteer to fight fires, exciting things are planned for the future of Broadview. The department is looking forward to an expansion on their building, and setting hopes of raising enough money to purchase a desperately needed new fire truck.
“We are in the process of adding two bays to the end of the fire hall.”, stated Price. “Ultimately, we’re going to have to increase capacity. Not just with equipment. We’re growing. We’ve got more firefighters than we’ve had in a long time.”
Learning that they were ineligible for certain types of grant funds, the department has changed their approach in the search for an apparatus and finding the funds to pay for the new truck is still in the research and development stages.
Fire Chief Macon, who has dedicated his life since 1976 to fighting fires and saving lives, has been the chief of Broadview since 2022 and showed extreme pride in his department and the sacrifices every volunteer makes.
“The board, the fire department, the community. We’re all a team.”, stated Macon. “And the reason I say that is because TEAM stands for: Together Everyone Accomplishes More.”
“It’s a volunteer thing.”, added Price. “The sacrifices these people make. To show up in the middle of the night and save someone’s life or to save someone’s house from burning down. And they don’t get paid anything. It takes a lot of dedication and selflessness to do that. And I don’t think a lot of people realize that.”
The department also showed pride in their female firefighter, Ana Hernandez, who will be the first female firefighter to complete the fire school training and become certified.
While the volunteer fire house does receive some money from the county each year, the fish fry events are the biggest fundraising events for the department and all monetary donations are greatly appreciated.
“These Fish Frys are the only way we can get money other than the county.”, said Price. “There are a lot of expenses for a volunteer fire department.”
With cooperative weather and a packed fire house, the first fish fry of 2025 proved to be a success for Broadview, having served over 640 plates to the community. The event comes together as a team effort and the fire department expressed gratitude for the local churches that donate desserts, the Huntland High School Interact group, and all of the volunteers that work together to make the fish fry possible.
The next fish fry fundraiser is scheduled for October and the local heroes showed excitement for the upcoming fall event, stating how much they appreciate the community members for showing up in force to support them.
