New documentary features lives of volunteer firefighters in small Wisconsin city

When former fire chief Dennis Klass started volunteering at the Cornell Area Fire Department 50 years ago, a single siren alerted the city of danger. 

In a new documentary, he explained that the wind blowing one way or another meant some residents would miss the siren’s sound altogether. 

Today, the all-volunteer fire department uses modern technology as it responds to about 110 calls a year. And the current chief said the department is increasing its roster, even as volunteer firefighters are disappearing around the country. 

Ben Cook, a Cornell native turned filmmaker, paid tribute to the department in a new documentary titled, “The Best of Us.” Of the 809 fire departments across Wisconsin, more than 75 percent are predominantly run by volunteers, according to the state Department of Safety and Professional Services. 

The film premiers at the Weyauwega International Film Festival in the Gerold Opera House on Thursday, Nov. 14. 

“When I went back and started making this (documentary), I realized that the town I grew up in has a special kind of glue that holds it together,” Cook said on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” 

Cook remembered Klass — who owned a barbershop in addition to being fire chief — stopping mid-appointment to run out the door for an emergency. Cook said being a volunteer firefighter is a 24/7 job.

“They’re listening to these scanners and they’re paying attention to these pagers and it’s just every little bleep, every little bloop,” Cook said.

The Cornell Area Fire Department serves nine communities in northeast Chippewa County. The documentary tells the stories of many of the volunteers whose families have been with the department for generations. This includes Matt Boulding, who took over as fire chief in 2022 after Klass retired. 

When Boulding was a child, he remembers going to the fire station with his dad, who served the department for 34 years and acted as assistant chief. 

“I always wanted to be a part of it,” Boulding told “Wisconsin Today.” “As long as I can remember when the scanner would go off and the fire whistle would blow, I would be out on a street corner watching fire trucks go out.”

Those fire trucks are answering calls for more than barns in a blaze. Firefighters assist ambulances and help patients who fall. Firefighters also respond to hunting, ATV, snowmobile and standard vehicle accidents. 

And in a small city of fewer than 1,500 people, an accident can involve a neighbor or a relative. The connection firefighters have to one another and to the city allows them to face the tragedies, Boulding said. 

Still, he said it can be challenging to balance the time commitments of training with having a family. 

“It’s tough,” Boulding said. “But we’re lucky that everybody here has a good support system.” 

To find showtimes, visit folk-cinema.com.