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Bat Cave fire chief to be special guest at State of the Union

Bat Cave Fire Chief Steve Freeman speaks to U.S. Sen. Ted Budd as Henderson County Manager John Mitchell looks on in March 2025.

By Bill Moss, Published: February 23, 2026

Steve Freeman, the Bat Cave fire chief whose harrowing story of surviving a landslide during Hurricane Helene has been seen by thousands, will be seated in the audience at the State of the Union address Tuesday night as special guest of U.S. Sen. Ted Budd.

“I just got to D.C. about an hour ago,” Freeman said in an interview with the Hendersonville Lightning Monday afternoon. “Ted Budd’s office contacted me a couple of days ago and invited me to the State of Union as his special guest.”

When he delivers his address to Congress, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and others on Tuesday night, President Trump will recognize so-called “Angel Family” families, survivors of people allegedly murdered by undocumented immigrants, multiple news organizations reported Monday. It’s not clear whether Trump may publicly salute Freeman.

“I have no idea on any of that,” Freeman said. “They haven’t told me anything except I’m his special guest.”

After he got the invitation just “a couple of days ago, they ran security checks on me and all that stuff,” the chief said. There’s only a seat for him, although he did travel to Washington with his wife, Joyce.

“He’s going to give us a private tour of the Capitol on Wednesday,” Freeman said of Sen. Budd.

The leader of the last all-volunteer department in Henderson County, Freeman has told the story countless times of his near-death experience when a landslide rolled his truck down the slope and trapped his head between a post and a tractor. After he made his way out, he went on to l ead rescue efforts in the days after Helene and has been deeply involved in recovery efforts in the Hickory Nut Gorge ever since.

“God in Action,” a video on the chief's experience made by Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian relief organization led by Franklin Graham, has been seen by thousands on YouTube.

“I fully believe I’m not going until it’s my time,” Freeman says in the interview. “God protected me through all of it.”

He said he’s lost count of how many times he’s shared the story of how his faith has given him and much of his fire and rescue team the strength and spirit to continue in recovery efforts, which are still under way a year and a half after the storm. Amish volunteer relief workers still come every week, each team of 30 or so staying a week at the time. It’s tradition now to feed the volunteers on Tuesday night at the Bat Cave firehouse.

“They come down to fire department and have supper and after we eat the meal, they have me get up and share my testimony,” he said.

On Tuesday, he’ll embark on the trip to the U.S. Capitol, suited up to represent Bat Cave, the community where his family has lived for generations.

“I’ve got to wear my Class A,” he said.