News

N.H. Fire Chief Receives 20-Year EMT Recognition

Caitlin Andrews

10/13/2015

Oct. 12--LEABANON, Maine -- If Dan Meehan has learned anything in his 35 years in the firefighting business, it's that you need to be prepared for anything.

He got into the profession when he was just 18 years old and will never forget one particularly intense experience when he was the new kid with the Somersworth Fire Department.

It was the first call he would respond to in which a civilian died, a call he said taught him to be ready for anything.

"There was a fire on Main Street where the old fire house used to be, and we had already pulled out the father of the family, who was deceased," he said. "But we thought there might still be a baby inside, so we went to go sweep the house."

Meehan said he and another firefighter went into the building together. When Meehan entered the master bedroom, he said he located a crib with what he thought was a human form inside it. Thinking it was an infant, he rushed out -- only to discover it was a teddy bear. He said the department's reaction was "deafening silence."

"It was just one of those incidents where you didn't know what to expect; I couldn't believe it was happening to me," he said. "We later found out the mother had been out shopping with the baby and the teenage daughter had escaped through an upper window. It was very intense, and I tell that story to new firefighters to show them you never know what you're going to find."

Despite such a jolt at the beginning of his career, Meehan stuck with it and was recently honored with a special designation. The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians recognized him for more than 20 years of service as a nationally-registered EMT, a honor few EMTs achieve, according to a press release from the National Registry of EMTs.

Meehan, who serves as part-time Lebanon fire and EMS chief and as a full-time Rochester firefighter, said he got into the fire-fighting business 35 years ago because he wanted to help people.

"It was a shock when I got the call," Meehan said of the EMT honor. "I forgot that I had been doing it for that long. Time just flew by."

Meehan said he got his EMT license in 1993 because fire departments were starting to require them. He started out with the Somersworth Fire Department when he was 18 and joined the Rochester Fire Department in 1995. Meehan has served as the part-time chief in Lebanon, Maine, Fire and EMS since January and continues to serve with the Rochester Fire Department.

To maintain his status as a nationally registered EMT, Meehan completed a comprehensive recertification program for Emergency Medical Technicians in America twice a year, according to the press release. He also dedicated a minimum of two hours a month to additional continuing education to advance his knowledge of new lifesaving skills.

"By maintaining his national registered status and completing regular continuing education courses, Meehan is among the few elite EMTs with the most training in pre-hospital emergency care in the nation," the press release read.

Meehan said he was honored by the recognition and received a gold-leafed certificate to commemorate his achievement. He said that while his mission to help people has remained steady, how fires are fought has changed drastically.

"I remember when I first got hired in Rochester, my father gave me a box of cigars and a handkerchief as a present," he said. "When I asked about the handkerchief, my father, who was also a fireman, told me there used to be only one air pack to pass around a company when you went to fight a fire, so sometimes you had to use these. I always think about that."