{"id":7239,"date":"2011-07-03T15:02:20","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T22:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=7239"},"modified":"2011-07-04T17:32:49","modified_gmt":"2011-07-05T00:32:49","slug":"fire-chief-hadaller-grant-writing-fiend-jokester-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=7239","title":{"rendered":"Fire Chief Hadaller: Grant-writing ‘fiend’, jokester, father"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"11.0702.pathwaycloser_2\"<\/a>

Firefighters, first-responders from near and far line the way for arriving guests at Chief Matt Hadaller's memorial service in Mossyrock.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOSSYROCK – Chief Matt Hadaller loved his fire department, loved his fire boat – the SS Hadaller – bragged about their newly “tricked out” aid car and was passionate about the fire service.<\/p>\n

But he’d pass up a Lewis County Fire Chief’s Association meeting anytime in order to attend his child’s ball game.<\/p>\n

“That’s the kind of father he was,” Jim Walkowski said.<\/p>\n

\"2011.0628.hadaller.small_2\"<\/a>

Matthew M. Hadaller III 1963-2011<\/p><\/div>\n

Still, he was among the most active in the fire chiefs group, and spent countless hours finding ways improve his department, Walkowski said.<\/p>\n

“Matt was one of our go-to members,” Walkowski said. “When you needed something accomplished or done, Matt was who you’d go to.”<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old Mossyrock man who died unexpectedly earlier this week could be relied upon for many things, according to Walkowski, the chief of Riverside Fire Authority in Centralia.<\/p>\n

“Matt always had your back when things were rough,” he said. “Matt had no problem telling you he felt; we all know this.”<\/p>\n

Walkowski’s words were shared yesterday in front of a football stadium packed with friends, family and others who came to pay tribute to Hadaller, at a memorial service that included speakers from the state fire chiefs association, the state fire marshal’s office, the governors office and more.<\/p>\n

Kevin Hanson, representing the Lewis County Fire Commissioner’s Association, called the loss of Hadaller immeasurable.<\/p>\n

Pastor Wayne Nelson reminded attendees of the sacrifices firefighters make: “They train and wait, train and wait, so they can be ready.”<\/p>\n

Matthew Morgan Hadaller III, a husband and father of four, was at home, on call, late Monday night when he suffered what the Lewis County coroner called a major cardiac event.<\/p>\n

Mourners who didn’t already know learned yesterday – if they read the memorial folder handed out – that Hadaller grew up on a farm, became a stellar football player at Mossyrock High School and went to work for Cowlitz Stud after graduating, finishing his mill career as head sawyer.<\/p>\n

He started at Lewis County Fire District 3 some 25 years ago, and was their first full time firefighter. He became assistant chief to the Mossyrock-area fire department in 1997, and its chief in 2002.<\/p>\n

The afternoon service under sunny skies at Mossyrock High School’s football stadium brought fire trucks and firefighters from countless agencies.<\/p>\n

Hadaller’s casket took center stage with dignitaries, some who knew him and some who didn’t.<\/p>\n

Bagpipes sounded and the audience sat silent during the tolling of the firefighters’ bell, and the official last alarm broadcast from Lewis County 911 dispatch.<\/p>\n

Fellow firefighter, and former District 3 chief, Curt Spahn described the man he knew for over 30 years as loving, proud, involved, selfless, fearless, a talker, and someone who left the department a rock solid foundation.<\/p>\n

And a jokester, Spahn said, recalling Hadaller’s great amusement with his own pranks.<\/p>\n

“Around Matthew, you had to keep your guard up,” Spahn said.<\/p>\n

Spahn told of a training in which they crawled through a smoke-filled room, where each firefighter was supposed to keep one hand on the foot of the person ahead of them.<\/p>\n

“But not Matt, he was behind me with both hands on my ankles, I had to drag Matt through,” he said.<\/p>\n

And when they came out, Hadaller was just laughing, he said.<\/p>\n

The chief’s latest dream was a new fire station, Spahn said.<\/p>\n

Walkowski told the crowd that often a measure of success is how much a fire chief can do with limited resources.<\/p>\n

Hadaller was a “grant-writing fiend” often calling for breakfast meetings at Country Cousin with Walkowski to get advice on how to bring in money for the small department; once spending an entire day at Walkowski’s house working on a grant proposal, Walkowski shared.<\/p>\n

“As chief, he was always thinking about where he could take the department,” Walkowski said. “Sometimes we had to rein that in, cause he was way out there.”<\/p>\n

Walkowski echoed Spahn’s sentiment that Hadaller was instrumental in growing a department that will continue to benefit from his leadership, even though his service has ended.<\/p>\n

“Matt didn’t have a lot of resources, but if you look at what he accomplished for his department and community, it’s amazing,” Walkowski said.<\/p>\n

\"2011.0702.hadaller.dist3\"<\/a>

Members of Lewis County Fire District 3 stand at attention for Chief Matt Hadaller's family.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hadaller.stage_2\"<\/a>

Mossyrock High School's football stadium is filled with those paying tribute to Chief Hadaller.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hp.hadaller.four_2\"<\/a>

July 2, 2011, Mossyrock<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hp.hadaller.walkowski_2\"<\/a>

July 2, 2011, Mossyrock<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hp.hadaller.flagfolding_2\"<\/a>

July 2, 2011, Mossyrock<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hp.hadaller.flag.wife_2\"<\/a>

July 2, 2011, Mossyrock<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2011.0702.hadaller.badge_2\"<\/a>

July 2, 2011, Mossyrock<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter MOSSYROCK – Chief Matt Hadaller loved his fire department, loved his fire boat – the SS Hadaller – bragged about their newly “tricked out” aid car and was passionate about the fire service. But he’d pass up a Lewis County Fire Chief’s Association meeting anytime in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-7239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7239"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7272,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions\/7272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}