Bernard “Bernie” Meehan began his career in the fire and emergency service at age 16 when he joined Newtown Hook & Ladder Co #1. He joined Winnisquam Volunteer Fire in New Hampshire while attending college there, then returned to Connecticut and joined Stratfield Volunteer Fire in Fairfield while attending and then graduating with the first paramedic class out of Norwalk Community College.

Forty-eight years after those first calls with Newtown’s oldest fire company and a career with Danbury Fire Department, among many other affiliations, Meehan, now 63, retired on March 17 as deputy chief from Danbury FD. Three weeks later the former longtime Newtown resident was one of nine people inducted as a member of the Connecticut State Firefighters Association (CSFA) Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

This year’s class also includes Reverend Mark Byers, Thomaston Fire; Thomas A. Clapsadle, Jr, Submarine Base FD, Groton; Dr Reginald D. Freeman, Hartford; John A. Plofkin, Jr, Nichols-Trumbull, Wilton, and Westport; the late Charles E. Raubeson, West Haven; Edward B. St John, Middlebury; and Peter Towey, New Britain and Hartford.

Over 550 people celebrated this year’s Induction Dinner, April 2 at The Aqua Turf in Southington. Fellow firefighters, family, and friends have joined inductees each spring to celebrate the honor. Meehan himself has been to plenty of previous induction dinners, but this time he was seated at the head table with his fellow inductees.

The Last To Know

Meehan spoke with The Newtown Bee the morning of April 10 about the career honor and digging a little deeper into his remarks of the previous week in between visiting a few friends and colleagues. A resident of Roxbury for many years, he has countless professional and personal connections in Newtown and well beyond.

Meehan said he was among the last to learn a few months ago that he would be inducted this year.

“A few people tried for a few years to get me into this and I absolutely flat-out refused to cooperate,” he shared. “There are plenty of other people who are more deserving than me.”

In October Meehan was part of a response to the scene of a bad car accident in Danbury where someone was rescued after firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to find them, he said. A local news channel aired a report about the call, and a few hours later his phone started blowing up with people offering their congratulations.

“I couldn’t understand why people were congratulating me for being on the news for a car accident,” he said, smiling at the memory. It wasn’t until someone he worked with sent him a congratulatory note that Meehan had a moment to reach out and say “What are you talking about?”

That’s when Meehan was told he was a member of the CSFA Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

“I remember thinking ‘That’s great, but nobody told me,’” he chuckled.

He then reached out to longtime friend Karin Halstead, a life member of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue, the vice president of CSFA, and co-chair of CSFA’s Hall of Fame Dinner.

“I called her and said ‘What’s going on?’ and she said ‘Oh yeah, you should get your packet tomorrow,’” he relayed. The next day Meehan did indeed receive confirmation of his induction and details ahead of this month's celebratory dinner. The Hall of Fame Committee, he said, “worked completely around me. They went to the chief in Danbury for the bios and backgrounds. I was probably one of the last to know officially. It was pretty funny.”

The annual celebration opens with the CT Firefighters Pips & Drums Statewide Honor Guard playing into a ballroom, lining an aisle through which each inductee then enters with an escort. Renee DiNino from WFSB Channel 3 served as emcee this year, James Wilkinson offered the Invocation and Benediction, CSFA President Tim Wall offered remarks, and each Hall of Famer was introduced and then given time to speak.

During his remarks a few weeks ago Meehan said the great thing about the fire service is “it’s the best example of a team sport in the non-athletic world. In no other industry are the actions of everyone on the team crucial to the outcome of the entire situation. From the dispatcher who takes the call to the pump operator 1,000 feet from the fire, to the nozzleman, to the fire investigator we all need behind the scene, everyone has a crucial role in the outcome of the event.”

In addition to the roles mentioned above, Meehan has been heavily involved with the emergency services in Roxbury, including as a member of Roxbury Volunteer FD and the town’s ambulance association including 20 years as ambulance chief and the town’s Emergency Management director. He has served as Litchfield County fire coordinator; fire liaison officer with Connecticut Intelligence Center; a founder and responder for Connecticut Critical Incident Stress Management Team; founder of New Milford Area Paramed Program; a board member of Trinity Mobile Healthcare of New England; a board member of Northwest Public Safety Communications Center; a member of Newtown Health District; an instructor of the Connecticut 911 Emergency Telecommunicator Training Program; and as a committee chair with Shepaug District Consolidated School Committee.

He is also a certified fire service instructor, fire officer, hazardous materials technician, emergency telecommunications instructor, and in multiple levels within the National Incident Management System. Additionally, Meehan has been named an honorary chief of Brookfield Fire, a Danbury Firefighter of the Year, a recipient of Danbury Hospital’s Christopher Blackwell Dedication to Service Award, a New Milford Area Heroes Program honoree, and received innumerable fire department unit citation, honorable service, merit, and EMS awards, according to the program from April 2.

“As I moved up the ladder to become a command officer and fire coordinator, one of the things I truly respect is that those roles allowed me a broader view of incidents where I could observe our first responders perform and bear witness to the incredible work they all do,” Meehan said during his remarks in Southington. “There was a time when I was often at the front of the action but now I might be at a command post and watch people do absolutely courageous work and think to myself ‘These guys are really good.’”

Help With Emotions

On April 2, Meehan also acknowledged one of the biggest changes in the emergency services he has seen in his nearly 50-year career.

“Back in the day we had a lot of members — there’s not so many any more, but I can remember the really horrific, tragic calls and the older guys, many of them combat veterans, really tough guys, would go about the firehouse business stoic, quiet, maybe offer someone a ‘That was a tough one, kid,’” he shared. “Some people actually walked away from the fire service, and we can no longer afford to lose those people.”

By the late 1980s, Meehan told those in the room, “we started to realize we needed some help with our emotions.”

First responders now have many options following bad calls. Among them is a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). That program arrived in Connecticut after the L'Ambiance Plaza collapse in Bridgeport in April 1987 that killed 28 construction workers.

“In the aftermath of that we got trained by Dr Jeff Mitchell from the University of Maryland in Critical Incident Stress,” Meehan told The Bee the following week. “We went all over the place helping people.”

As a co-founder and a responder of Connecticut’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team, Meehan “probably responded to more than half the towns in the state of Connecticut in that role,” he told the Aqua Turf crowd earlier this month. “Fast-forward to 2012, we then realized we needed more advanced mental health and began to find professionals to help us find our resiliency.”

It was after 12/14 that the Fairfield County Trauma Recovery Network was formed. Among the counselors on that team was Dawn Roy, who “rose to the top in my world and became my counselor,” he told The Bee. Dr Stacey Raymond, who is also part of that team, has worked with Meehan regularly, “helping peers and other people,” he said.

Both women were among those at Meehan’s guest table during the Hall of Fame dinner.

“We’ve had a tremendous issues in recent years of mental health in emergency services, and we’re addressing it, and if I can leverage one thing based upon my experience, rank and status, it’s to make sure that younger responders understand it’s OK to get help,” he said April 10. “In a lot of the emergency services world, these people respond to death and destruction on a daily basis, and you cannot endure that without any help.”

With 48 years of service under his belt, “and a bucket full of catastrophes,” Meehan said he would be foolish to think he could get to the end of his run without any help from those involved in mental health.

“Part of my therapeutic process was to help other people, other responders,” he said. Quoting Mahatman Ghandi, Meehan added, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

‘A Fantastic Journey’

Back in Southington, Meehan called his career “a fantastic journey.” He said there “are still so many people on that path who are truly my heroes and I will continue to admire what you do every day. I’m incredibly humbled and I would like to thank my friends and the Connecticut State Firefighters Association for the recognition.”

Each inductee was presented with a plaque and medal from the Connecticut State Firefighters Association denoting their Hall of Fame status. They also received a Certificate of Special Recognition from Senator Richard Blumenthal, who attended and spoke at the event; and an Official Statement from Lt Governor Susan Bysiewicz. Meehan also received a proclamation from Danbury Mayor Roberto L. Alves.

Looking back at that Thursday evening celebration with hundreds of fellow first responders and supporters in the room, Meehan said his favorite part of the night was having the spotlight on the entire group.

“I love the team aspect of the fire service. There were literally people from all four corners of the state there,” he said. “There were a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while, so seeing some of them was so amazing.

“The gathering is literally the Who’s Who of the fire service,” he said. “I do realize the concept of recognition is larger than my thoughts and feelings. It wasn’t my idea, and you’re chosen by your peers.

“It’s an incredible accomplishment because I am among people I look up to as heroes.”

Meehan is the third person with ties to Newtown Hook & Ladder to be inducted into the CSFA Hall of Fame, and the fourth person from Newtown to be inducted. Hook & Ladder member James Gies was inducted in 2024 (“Jim literally taught me the ropes at Hook & Ladder back in 1978!” Meehan said), as was T. William McAllister, who started his local fire career in 1977 with Hook & Ladder and has been involved with four of this town’s five fire companies.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead was inducted in 2011.

The CSFA Hall of Fame was created in April 2009 to recognize and honor members of the Connecticut fire service, both living and deceased, who have contributed to the betterment of the first service locally, statewide, and nationally. As of this month there are 199 CSFA Hall of Fame members.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.