OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen The Brocton Fire Hall is in need of significant repairs, intensified by a recent partial collapse of its roof.

BROCTON — With the Brocton Volunteer Fire Department in desperate need of repairs to its Fire Hall, the Village of Brocton will try one more time in hopes of receiving assistance from New York State.

The Village is seeking a grant from the Volunteer Fire Infrastructure and Response Equipment Grant Program through the State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. The state-funded grant program provides $25 million to “strengthen volunteer fire departments and districts statewide.”

Eligible applicants can apply for up to $1 million for the construction, renovation, or purchase costs for critical facilities to support fire department operations, such as fire halls and training facilities. The deadline to apply is Feb. 25.

In an effort to increase its chances of receiving a grant, the Village Board passed a resolution pledging up to $100,000 for the necessary upgrades to the Brocton Fire Hall, in the event that a state grant is received. The contribution is only binding contingent upon receiving a grant. If Brocton’s application is unsuccessful, it is unclear what the Village Board will do next regarding the Fire Hall.

Two years ago, the Village Board approved an agreement with Municipal Solutions to pursue grant funding to apply to the Brocton Fire Hall and Community Center. The minimum cost of the agreement was $5,000, but the Village’s submission was unsuccessful. CPL: Architecture-Engineering-Planning conducted an engineering report on the Fire Hall in years past.

Dave Hazelton, an Emergency Medical Technician with the Brocton Fire Department, attended a previous Village Board meeting to share that a “large chunk” of ceiling recently fell from the auditorium of the Fire Hall.

“I’m concerned that one of these days, we’re going to have a catastrophic failure of that entire roof,” Hazelton said. “Someday, that thing is going to collapse.”

Trustee Brandy Smith, a member of the department, said, “We can’t keep pushing it off. It’s been pushed off for 10 years. How much longer is it going to be until it starts affecting the rest of the fire department? It’s all one attached roof. I would assume that eventually, it’s going to go onto the side that we need as a fire department.”

Also pertaining to the Fire Department, the Village Board approved the purchase of a tanker for the Fire Department in the amount of $65,000. The tanker will be purchased with funds on hand from the trucking equipment account. Once the new tanker is received, the old tanker will be declared surplus and sold to replenish the trucking equipment account.

The Brocton Fire Department responded to 32 calls in the month of December, bringing the total for the past year to 431 calls. The Department has already responded to roughly 40 calls in 2026, including nine calls in one day. “I appreciate everybody’s responses,” Mayor Craig Miller said.