By Mary Pieper, Mason City Globe Gazette

LAKE MILLS — Lake Mills Fire Chief Dave Anderson, the third generation of his family to serve on the city’s fire department, is retiring at the end of the year.

Anderson, 65, joined the department 38 years ago and has served as chief for the past 27 years.

He has served on the department longer than any current member, but not nearly as long as his grandfather, Nick Anderson, who was a Lake Mills firefighter for 52 years — from 1906 to 1958.

His father, Willie Anderson, was on the Fire Department from 1959 to 1966.

“When I was a kid I would go to the fire hall a lot,” Dave Anderson said.

Over the years he has served with 80 different people on the Fire Department.

“So many things have changed,” he said.

In addition to fighting fires, the department now helps ambulance crews extricate people from vehicles and sets up the landing zone for the medical helicopter after accidents, conducts carbon monoxide checks in homes, and much more.

“If they don’t know who to call, they call the Fire Department,” Anderson said.

He remembers years ago the fire whistle went off to alert firefighters of a fire call. Later the firefighters were issued pagers, and now they get text messages on their cellphones.

Firefighters also receive a lot more training and do more fire-prevention education with the public, according to Anderson.

In addition, they have better equipment to work with, he said.

Anderson remembers some tragic fires where people lost their lives, including small children. The department fought one of those fires on a night when the temperature dipped to 23 below zero.

But he also remembers humorous things that happened, such as the time a big fire hose fell off a truck on the way to a fire.

There was also the time many years ago when he and another firefighter were in the second or third truck on the way to a fire and the emergency brake got stuck and began throwing sparks, igniting the ditch. One of the other trucks had to turn back so other firefighters could help them extinguish the ditch fire.

Anderson is proud of the fact that the department hasn’t lost a firefighter in a fire during his time as chief.

Some small-town fire departments struggle to find members, but the Lake Mills department, with 23 members, actually has a waiting list, according to Anderson.

Anderson said the most rewarding part of being a firefighter is  “serving people and helping people out.”

There’s also “the brotherhood of the firemen,” he said. “It’s like the military.”

Anderson, who served as mayor of Lake Mills for 10 years, plans to continue working at his auto shop, Dave’s Auto Service.

His last official day on the fire department is Dec. 31.

He said he will miss being a firefighter, noting it will be strange not going to the fire station on Wednesday nights for meetings.

However, he said, the firefighters will continue to do a good job.

His last Wednesday night meeting at the fire station was on Dec. 10. He said 10 former firefighters attended the meeting because they knew it would be his last.

“I enjoyed that,” he said.

Kirby Holtan, first assistant fire chief, will become interim fire chief on Jan. 1 and will serve until Jan. 7, when the department will elect a new chief.

Holtan said Anderson will be missed, noting he is “really understanding of people.”

“I’ve learned a lot from him,” Holtan said. “He’s taught us young guys some good stuff.”