Concord NH Fire Chief Heading To Cape Cod
CONCORD, NH — After more than a quarter of a century working for the Concord Fire Department, the city’s fire chief will be stepping down and taking a job on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Chief Sean Brown will begin leading the Cotuit Fire District in Barnstable, MA, early next month. It will be a big change for the chief since he has worked for the fire department in New Hampshire's capital city nearly all his entire adult life.
The decision was both an easy and difficult one, he said. For most of his life, Brown lived in Boston and Chelsea and had family on the South Shore and Cape Cod. All of his wife’s family, too, is down there. The coronavirus pandemic, which has influenced everyone, also had an effect on him. Brown took a bit of time to “reexamine priorities” in the wake of COVID-19. Being unable to travel and also see a number of family members who were sick or hospitalized during the lockdown also weighed on his mind as well as his wife and children.
“It just made us realize we needed to be closer to our families,” Brown said.
Brown started his career in New Hampshire, attending Lakes Region Community College for fire training, and then, was hired in Concord in 1995 as a firefighter-EMT. During his time in Concord, he served as a lieutenant, fire marshal, and battalion chief. Brown was named chief 13 months ago, replacing interim fire chief Guy Newbery, a long-time capital region firefighter who replaced Chief Dan Andrus, who retired in December 2019.
In between, Brown focused on emergency management, something he called “a natural extension of my career, allowing me to use all of my skills as a firefighter.” He was sent to hurricane relief efforts and other emergencies as part of Mass. Task Force One. He also worked alongside Australians and Israelis as part of his work with emergency response.
“It was neat,” he said of the task force’s work. “And it opened up a lot of opportunities.”
Most recently, Brown was in Surfside, Florida, with other firefighters and police officers from New England, assisting with the condominium collapse that took the lives of nearly 100 Floridians.
When asked about his fondest memory working in Concord, either a spectacular fire or an emotional event, Brown said there were too many to name just one.
“There are calls you are glad to remember,” he said. “There are calls that haunt you. But it’s the people here that I’ll remember and miss the most … the support network is very strong.”
City Manager Tom Aspell commended Brown for all his time working in the city.
“Chief Brown has been an integral part of the Concord Fire Department and the city of Concord for more than 25 years, and while we are sad to see him go, we wish him all the best in his next chapter,” he said.
Deputy Fire Chief John Chisholm will take over for Brown on March 29.
Brown is slated to be sworn in as the new fire chief in Cotuit on April 8.
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This article originally appeared on the Concord Patch
