NH Fire Chief to Retire after Nearly 40 Years

After spending his entire full-time firefighting career in Exeter, Chief Brian Comeau announced his retirement effective May 1.

Comeau said Town Manager Russ Dean will appoint an acting successor by or on his last day, April 30.

Comeau said the final draft of the analysis examining the town's fire, police, EMS and dispatch services by the Center for Public Safety Management is being finalized. He said he thought its recommendations provide a substantive blueprint for his successor to follow and makes for a logical point for a seamless leadership transition.

"It's going to take a two-, three-year commitment to put all those recommendations into effect," Comeau said. "I wasn't planning on getting to 40 years, so this seemed like a good opportunity for me to go and let the Fire Department go under new management."

Comeau has worked for the Fire Department for 37 years and rose through the ranks, from a full-time firefighter/EMT, to senior firefighter, lieutenant, assistant chief and being named chief in 2000. He began his career as a volunteer firefighter in Durham before being hired to his first full-time firefighting position in Exeter in the fall of 1982.

He recalled two major incidents when reflecting on his career.

Comeau said his department battled the most memorable blaze of his career when the 158-year-old Presbyterian church went up in flames, Nov. 24, 2003. He said fire crews from as far away as Newburyport and Amesbury, Massachusetts, were among the mutual aid contingent that helped Exeter firefighters battle the inferno for a full day.

"It was a deep-seeded fire and it took us 24 hours to extinguish," he said. "Portsmouth, Dover, Amesbury, Newburyport; they were all actively fighting the fire with us. It was quite the fire fight."

The other memorable incident happened when Portsmouth Avenue flooded in 1996, which caused the malfunction of the town's water treatment facility. For a month, he said, the Fire Department operated two bottled water pickup locations in town for residents. During the crisis, Comeau said a Phillips Exeter Academy dormitory caught fire and his firefighters relied on the mutual aid of other communities dispatching tanker trucks to the scene.

"We were without a municipal water supply to fill up our engines," he said. "When we call for two, three alarms, the network is great about sending what we need and where we need it, so we could fight that fire aggressively. We kept the fire contained to a single floor in a single room."

Comeau said Exeter has been a leading department in the Seacoast Chief Fire Officers Mutual Aid District since the late 1960s. He said he was proud to be a member of the district and to help lead it through his nearly four decades of service.

"Our system works really well and we're really lucky to have them," he said.

Assistant Fire Chief Justin Pizon said Comeau's reputation as a great leader was a major draw for young firefighters looking for a community to begin their career. Pizon will celebrate his 17th anniversary with Exeter fire this month.

"There are only two people in our entire organization who Chief Comeau hasn't personally hired, so to see the person in that position and the progress we've made as a department speaks volumes," Pizon said. "I joined the Exeter Fire Department because it was one of the most well-trained and well-respected departments in the state and that was due to Chief Comeau's leadership. So to see the chief retire and leave an organization in the same fashion, it definitely says something about him."

Select Board Chairman Niko Papakonstantis thanked Comeau for his service and wished him well in retirement.

"The town of Exeter is extremely appreciative of Chief Comeau for his many years of service and we wish him the best of health and all the happiness in his retirement," Papakonstantis said.

Dean said Comeau was a major reason Exeter boasts the reputation as a progressive and well-trained fire and EMS operation. He said due to ongoing social isolation orders, the town is unable to hold a public celebration to honor Comeau at this time. However, Dean said the town will publicly honor him once public gatherings are appropriate again.

"Part of the strength of the department lies in the way they are able to handle so many different aspects of public safety, not just the basics of fire and EMS service, but also emergency management planning, hazard mitigation planning and the like," Dean said. "Our department is also one of the few to have a full-time health officer, and that was something the chief advocated for several years ago. That's certainly become even more important as of late."

Comeau said in his retirement, he will enjoy splitting time between his two sets of grandchildren living in New Hampshire and Virginia. He said the continuity of the Fire Department will be seamless because of the leadership team in place. He specifically mentioned Assistant Chief Eric Wilking and his efforts as the point-person coordinating the town's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Thirty-seven years is a great career, Exeter is a wonderful community, but not being able to (publicly) say goodbye to people is weighing heavy on me," Comeau said. "This health crisis shows the depth we have as an organization. I'm very proud of the operation and how they're all doing it."

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