4th of July barbecue sales a big part of volunteer fire department budgets

Assistant Chief "Cajun" Manning of the CKC Volunteer Fire Department takes a quick look to see how the pork meat in a massive smoker is coming along Thursday morning. Far from a quick process, members of the fire department spent the entire day preparing barbecue and hash for pick-up this morning. Fire departments use the proceeds from the sales to help fund their all-volunteer operations. Smoke was rising on Old Chester Road but the CKC Fire Department had the intentionally set fires under complete control.

A July 4 holiday weekend tradition at CKC Fire Department, the small army of volunteers was tending to five huge smokers and four massive cast iron kettles Thursday.

The smell of slow-smoked pork, and burning pecan and hickory wood, wafted from the outdoor smokers tended by Assistant Fire Chief "Cajun" Manning and firefighter Keith Manning.

Other firefighters such as Ken McCraw and Brian Manning were busy inside, dicing beef and sacks of onions for the hash.

"We've been here 30 years and we've been cooking ever since," McCraw said while carefully slicing up the beef with a butcher knife.

A tradition at volunteer fire departments across the county, annual barbecue and hash sales mean a lot more than tasty food on the Fourth of July.

"Cajun" Manning said his department hoped the annual barbecue and hash sale would raise about $10,000 for the department.

While fire departments receive county funding, they do whatever they can to raise additional funds for all the gear needed to help save lives and property. A firefighter's bunker gear alone costs about $1,500.

"For 20 of (CKC's 30) years," Cajun Manning said, "about half of our budget was fundraising money."

Because demand had been outpacing supply in recent years - all the food was gone by 9 a.m. last July 4 - CKC Fire Department decided to make a little more this year.

"Little" is a relative term, however, when you measure ingredients by the pound.

Altogether, the firefighters were making 800 pounds of pork barbecue and 800 pounds of hash, an increase of about 400 pounds compared to last year.