BERWICK, Pa. — For eight weeks of the year, the Reliance Fire Company in Berwick turns into a full-blown restaurant.
It was calm in the fire hall's kitchen at 6 a.m. when Newswatch 16 was there, but a few hours later?
"It's... chaos," laughed Chief Dave Deitrich.
And the main man behind the scenes of it all is John Tigue.
"'John, John!' That's all you hear all day. 'John, your oven's going off! John, we need this, we need that,'" said Bill Coolbaugh.
"He's our CFO, our 'Chief Fish Officer,'" said Deitrich.
Tigue is here all day, every day during Lent.
"I'm here at quarter after 5; I start at 5:30 a.m. prepping."
Tigue showed up at one of the weekly Lenten fish fry dinners 17 years ago, asking if he could apply to the fire company.
"And he says, 'Hey, listen, I just moved to the area. I've been watching other fire companies, and I think this is the place I want to hang my hat,'" recalled Deitrich.
A few minutes later, he was put to work.
"I stood over there, and I washed dishes!" Tigue remembers.
Now, he's running the show. And what a big show it is.
"It's a seven-day operation for eight weeks. We go through about 1,400 pounds of fish, and that's just one Friday," Coolbaugh said.
The fire company is at max capacity, but if the customers had their way, these guys would be able to handle a fish fry dinner every week.
"Oh, they beg us. They ask in line, 'Are you going to have this every Friday?'" Tigue said.
"I think if we had this every single Friday of the year, we'd die," said Deitrich.
Luckily, they don't need to. During the Lenten fundraiser, the firefighters make enough money to last them the whole year.
"Oh, we rely 95 to 100 percent on this. This is our biggest one. This is what keeps us alive and floating," said Coolbaugh.
Lunch and dinner are served from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Friday through April 15.
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