Dubois County firefighter honored at national memorial in Maryland

Lucas Gehlhausen’s wife, children, mother and fellow Celestine Volunteer Fire Department members stood together in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as Dubois County’s loss was recognized on a national stage. The memorial added Gehlhausen, a 41-year-old firefighter who served 17 years with the department, to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, giving his hometown service a place in the country’s official tribute to firefighters killed in the line of duty.

Gehlhausen died on September 7, 2025, in a motor vehicle accident while responding to a structure fire. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation said he was driving his personal vehicle when he died. TriState Homepage reported that he had responded to the fire at about 7:15 p.m. before the single-vehicle crash. For Celestine and the rest of Dubois County, the date remains tied not just to a tragedy, but to a firefighter who was doing the work he had done for nearly two decades.

The annual Memorial Weekend, held May 2-3 at the United States Fire Administration campus, is the foundation’s official national tribute to firefighters who died in the line of duty. This year’s Roll of Honor recognized 97 firefighters who died in 2025 and 107 from previous years. TriState Homepage reported that Gehlhausen was one of more than 200 fallen firefighters honored at Sunday’s ceremony and one of eight Indiana firefighters included in this year’s remembrance.

His inclusion places Celestine alongside departments from across the country that have lost firefighters in service. The foundation says the Roll of Honor has listed every firefighter honored at the memorial since 1981, making Gehlhausen’s name part of a long national record of sacrifice and remembrance. Celestine Fire Chief Ryan Wineinger said the memorial will help carry Gehlhausen’s legacy forward for years to come, while his family’s presence in Maryland showed how deeply his death still reverberates at home. For Dubois County firefighters, the honor was more than ceremony. It was a public acknowledgment that one of their own answered a call and never came back.