Boulding fulfills his lifelong dream to become fire chief

Cornell Area Fire Department Fire Chief Matt Boulding is living his dream and spends much of his time at the station, supported by his wife, Jamie, and four children. The family also runs a business and helps out the communities they serve whenever possible. Submitted Photo

By Ginna Young

It was in the making for some time, but as of the first of the year, second generation firefighter Matt Boulding took over as the Cornell Area Fire Department fire chief. Matt has served for 19 years on the department, starting as a firefighter, before climbing to a safety officer, lieutenant and finally, assistant fire chief.

Firefighting is in the Boulding blood, as Matt’s father, Steve Boulding, was on the department 34 years, before retiring as an assistant chief. Now, Matt’s son, Tim Boulding, is the third generation to serve the seven communities and 220 square miles of department territory.

While Matt had plenty of training ahead of becoming chief, there are still new training courses that pop up every now and then, as well as a 30-hour refresher course every year.

“I always call it more tools in the toolbox, you can’t have enough,” said Matt.

As part of his role as chief, Matt makes out the truck checklists, and makes sure building maintenance and upkeep is done. He also works with the fire board and to stay in budget, while keeping costs down for taxpayers, which includes possible replacement of the tenders in the next five years, and establishing a potential satellite station in Holcombe.

The department has 20-30 firefighters on call at a time, and Matt says they can always add more, they just have stop by the station on Osborne Street in Cornell, or call him, at 715-202-0816.

“We’ll send them to school,” he said. In the short time Matt has taken over, he’s instituted a few changes, with promotions in-house for everything to fall into place.

“It’s been a lifelong dream to be a fire chief,” said Matt. “I just didn’t think it’d ever happen.”