Keeping it in the family: Matt Baade takes over for father Lonnie as Luana fire chief
In July, the Luana Fire Department elected its first new chief in 20 years, as Matt Baade took over for his father Lonnie. Lonnie first began serving with the department in 1987, while Matt joined in 2008. (Contributed photo)
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
In July, the Luana Fire Department elected its first new chief in 20 years, as Matt Baade took over for his father Lonnie.
“It’s been kind of joked about for years: ‘When Lonnie steps down, Matt’s just going to take over,’” Matt quipped.
“He’s always been a right-hand man to me, helping out,” noted Lonnie. “I knew it would happen. It felt good—that the guys trusted him to do it right.”
The family’s service with the department dates back to 1987, when Lonnie joined after moving into Luana. Back then, he said, becoming a firefighter was easier than it is today.
“There wasn’t as much training. You just kind of watched what others were doing,” Lonnie remarked.
The equipment was also less advanced.
“You had your helmet, of course,” he said. “You had rubber gloves and a big trench coat and hip boots, and that was about it.”
His first call was in the middle of the night—a barn fire.
“It was pretty much gone when we got there, but I can remember the embers blowing. It was pretty windy,” Lonnie recalled.
After a year in the assistant role, he was elected Luana fire chief in 2000.
“It was an honor,” he said, “that the guys think that much of you to put you in charge.”
Matt joined the department eight years later, after graduating from college and moving back to town. Since then, he’s been an active member, including time as training officer. As chief, Matt said one of his priorities is making training interesting, yet keeping the guys safe and up on their skills.
Unlike when Lonnie started, firefighters now are required by the state to have 24 hours of training annually. The volunteers perform a variety of exercises to fulfill those requirements.
“We’ll have a live fire simulator, this box trailer where they control the fire in there, and we go in and extinguish it. That’s always a fun one to do, and we try to do it every couple years,” said Matt. “Winter time is always a little more difficult. You want to get outside and run the trucks somehow, and there’s always good videos we can watch on the TV. We also like to take a training night and go through all the trucks to remember where everything is—just a refresher so, if you’re on scene and tell someone to get something, they have a general idea where it’s at.”
Learning how to run the pump operations is one of the most important exercises, added Lonnie.
“I liked to see everyone know how to run it, not just one or two people,” he said.
With an all-volunteer department, and most firefighters having jobs, amassing 24 hours can be difficult, “but we do pretty good,” Lonnie noted. “You might have some training that lasts three or four hours a night, so then you’re gaining on it.”
In a smaller, volunteer department, Matt said the firefighters are almost all like chiefs, working together as one team to accomplish a goal. But having a chief—that one person in charge—is important for communicating with the dispatch center, asking for help and making final decisions.
Lonnie said one of the biggest fires he recalls was when Luana provided mutual aid at Art’s Way, in Monona. There was also a big fire at the turkey plant in Postville.
“On our own, we’ve had a couple house fires. One, it was the first week in September and it was the night before our pork loin dinner. Monona was there, and we had Postville hauling water,” he stated. “I was standing up on the pumper and we were waiting for a guy to come with an excavator to knock the house down because it wasn’t safe to go in. The roof came down and the walls were bowed. All the guys were just all sprawled out on the lawn. They were just whooped. And Matt said, ‘I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta get the pork cooking.’”
“I left at 6 that morning to start the pork. The guys were still out there,” Matt shared. “We usually liked to have the trucks all shined up and ready for that day, but they were a little dirty.”
Another effort the Baades will always remember is the construction of the new Luana fire station, which was completed in 2018.
“We’d needed it for years,” Lonnie said. “We just started the ball rolling after one meeting, started doing fundraisers. Now, we’ve got enough room to train, enough room for a meeting, a nice kitchen here.”
“There was huge community support,” Matt added. “Without their support and donations, we’d still be up the street.”
The firefighters are happy to honor that support by serving.
“You’re here to help the community when someone is need. Not just fire, but we help the EMT crew, we do storm spotting,” Matt said. “It’s a good feeling to be able to respond.”
To learn more about the Luana Fire Department and other local fire departments, check out the “Hometown Heroes” section recognizing Fire Prevention Week on pages 12-14 in this week's Times-Register.
