From small towns to big cities, Bernie Meehan has been answering the call for nearly half a century. No matter where the emergency is, it’s the people he serves and works with that have kept him going for so long.
“You have to remember when you’re in the fire service, your routine day is somebody else’s worst day,” he said. “So when you unlock their car or you get their cat out of a tree, that’s a total crisis to that individual.”
For almost his entire life, Meehan has gotten to live his dream to be a firefighter. He volunteers for his hometown fire department in Roxbury, and as an emergency response coordinator for Litchfield County.
Meehan has been working full time with the Danbury Fire Department for more than 40 years, rising to the rank of deputy chief. His career started even before that, volunteering at the age of 16 for fire departments and ambulance companies from Newtown to Monroe. “Overnight I would sleep in the Monroe Police Station or ride their ambulance,” he said. “We chased a lot of fires, fought a lot of fires when I was in high school.”
Once out of college Meehan stayed with Danbury his entire career. That is because the city takes care of its first responders, and there is never a dull day on the job.“You never know what’s going to happen,” Meehan said. “We’ve got the highway, the lake, the airport, the businesses, the mall. Every day was a different day.”
