[1]Lewis County Fire District 3 Chief Matt Hadaller. / Courtesy photo by Taryn Houghtelling
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A procession of fire trucks and law enforcement vehicles will travel east on U.S. Highway 12 tomorrow to the Mossyrock High School football stadium to attend the memorial service for Matthew M. Hadaller III, the fire chief who died unexpectedly on Monday night.
Hadaller, 47, was a member of his community’s fire department for 20 years, and spent the last seven and half years as chief.
He was at home late Monday night when he suffered what the coroner called a major cardiac event, caused by what is sometimes called arteriosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries.
The technical term is arteriosclerotic coronary artery disease, according to Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod.
“My impression is he didn’t know he had it,” McLeod said today.
Volunteer members of his Lewis County Fire District 3 took him by ambulance to Morton General Hospital, but he suffered a cardiac arrest on the way and couldn’t be revived, Lewis County Fire District 13’s Chief Gregg Peterson said earlier this week.
The memorial service is set for 1 p.m.
The procession is set to depart about 12:15 p.m. from Avery Road at Highway 603. Motorists should expect delays in the area along Avery Road and U.S. Highway 12 until about 1 p.m., according to the area fire chiefs who are organizing the events.
The chiefs note that anyone wishing to make a donation to Hadaller’s family can do so at any branch of Twin Star Credit Union, mentioning the Chief Hadaller Fund.