MONROE - The MERIT Center needs a class room. And bathrooms.
So the Monroe Fire Department and its surrounding local firefighting partners are coming to the rescue -again.
All proceeds from the second annual fish fry, hosted by Monroe Fire Department from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 28 at Fire Station No. 2 in downtown Monroe, will go to benefit the center.
The MERIT Center is a 6-acre, multi-use fire and emergency services training center located in the north industrial park in Monroe. The MERIT Center is available for use by all Green County agencies and regularly conducts fire, police, EMS and private industry safety and response training. The center is also home to the Monroe Fire School, now in its 76th year.
Local firefighters, who depend upon the center for training, hope to pack in the fish lovers - but not as tightly as sardines. According to Deputy Chief Lane Heins of the Monroe Fire Department, the service this year is expected to be swifter, with a separate take-out line and double the number of fryers to keep up with the demand for hot, crispy fish and French fries.
Heins also hopes the quicker service will allow more people into the building faster. Last year, the waiting line meandered out the door and into the parking lot, but the weather was nice.
The weather this year could be anything but nice, he said.
The Monroe Fire Department is planning to build a large structure to house a classroom, two bathrooms, a small office and a two-bay, training equipment storage area.. The classroom is expected to hold about 45 people, Heins predicted.
State fire certification requires hand-on testing, Heins said, and right now, students in those classes train at the MERIT, but must travel to Janesville to be tested, simply because the MERIT Center has no holding rooms or bathroom facilities.
Personnel from Green, Rock, Lafayette, Dane and Stephenson counties use the MERIT training center. Its location allows local volunteer-only departments the capacity to respond to an emergency, not leaving their communities unprotected, during training exercises.
The classroom facility would be available for private and civil organizations to use, as well.
The department has already begun setting aside funds earmarked for the new building, but the fund is "nowhere close" to the estimated $200,000 needed for the undertaking, Heins said.
That is why the success of the fish fry last year, and hopefully this year, is so important.
Last year, the firefighters hoped to get about 300 people to attend, but they prepared for 500 people. They served 535 people, and, to add to their overwhelming response, a fire call came in during the event, sending firefighters scurrying into their gear and vehicles before hitting the streets, sirens wailing.
They couldn't have been more pleased about the community's response, Heins said.
"When that alarm went off, we just looked at each other for a second and thought, what do we do; we got all these people to feed?" Heins recalled. "Well, as anyone who was there could tell, other department members and family members just stepped in to fill the gaps and took over while we were out on a call. That's the way it always is."
So the Monroe Fire Department and its surrounding local firefighting partners are coming to the rescue -again.
All proceeds from the second annual fish fry, hosted by Monroe Fire Department from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 28 at Fire Station No. 2 in downtown Monroe, will go to benefit the center.
The MERIT Center is a 6-acre, multi-use fire and emergency services training center located in the north industrial park in Monroe. The MERIT Center is available for use by all Green County agencies and regularly conducts fire, police, EMS and private industry safety and response training. The center is also home to the Monroe Fire School, now in its 76th year.
Local firefighters, who depend upon the center for training, hope to pack in the fish lovers - but not as tightly as sardines. According to Deputy Chief Lane Heins of the Monroe Fire Department, the service this year is expected to be swifter, with a separate take-out line and double the number of fryers to keep up with the demand for hot, crispy fish and French fries.
Heins also hopes the quicker service will allow more people into the building faster. Last year, the waiting line meandered out the door and into the parking lot, but the weather was nice.
The weather this year could be anything but nice, he said.
The Monroe Fire Department is planning to build a large structure to house a classroom, two bathrooms, a small office and a two-bay, training equipment storage area.. The classroom is expected to hold about 45 people, Heins predicted.
State fire certification requires hand-on testing, Heins said, and right now, students in those classes train at the MERIT, but must travel to Janesville to be tested, simply because the MERIT Center has no holding rooms or bathroom facilities.
Personnel from Green, Rock, Lafayette, Dane and Stephenson counties use the MERIT training center. Its location allows local volunteer-only departments the capacity to respond to an emergency, not leaving their communities unprotected, during training exercises.
The classroom facility would be available for private and civil organizations to use, as well.
The department has already begun setting aside funds earmarked for the new building, but the fund is "nowhere close" to the estimated $200,000 needed for the undertaking, Heins said.
That is why the success of the fish fry last year, and hopefully this year, is so important.
Last year, the firefighters hoped to get about 300 people to attend, but they prepared for 500 people. They served 535 people, and, to add to their overwhelming response, a fire call came in during the event, sending firefighters scurrying into their gear and vehicles before hitting the streets, sirens wailing.
They couldn't have been more pleased about the community's response, Heins said.
"When that alarm went off, we just looked at each other for a second and thought, what do we do; we got all these people to feed?" Heins recalled. "Well, as anyone who was there could tell, other department members and family members just stepped in to fill the gaps and took over while we were out on a call. That's the way it always is."