Firefighter Beardslee Sworn In As Poquonnock's Newest Bravest

Not yet a man, teen-aged firefighter Richard Beardslee rushed to a fire, ready but not quite confident, so he was sure to stay close to the seasoned, career firefighter with him. That man “fought that fire but watched my back at the same time,” he said.

At that moment, Beardslee said, “(I) knew this is what I wanted to do.”

“It made an impression on me. Big time,” he remembered.  “My first ever fire. I was 19 and I’ll always remember it. I realized then I needed to listen to these guys. I followed and did that and it stuck with me, because that’s where this sense of brotherhood really came in. He was there to fight that fire. But he was also there for me. I won’t forget that.”

“It sounds hokey, but the camaraderie, the brotherhood, is what makes it for me. That and the excitement and the feeling, that good feeling when you help someone.”

Now, after being a volunteer firefighter for nearly two decades, the 36-year-old married father of two begins a full-time career firefighter for the Poquonnock Bridge Fire Department. Having been sworn in just last week, Beardslee is now in a 14-week residential program at the Connecticut Fire Academy where he’ll be trained in firefighting, rescue, and hazardous materials handling, among other first responders’ skills.

“It’s extremely exciting to realize the whole dream. I’ve been working for this for a long time. This is all I want to do. Help people,” he said.  

Norwich born, North Stonington raised, Beardslee graduated from Wheeler High School in 1993. He  started as a junior member of the North Stonington Fire Department at age 16. He said it was “fun, pretty exciting” being part of the department.

A basketball player, he was “lucky enough” to have hosted an Irish basketball exchange student as a teen, then have the opportunity to travel to Ireland and later Russia to play basketball, also as an exchange student. Those experiences are ones he won’t soon forget, but he said they pale in comparison to his work as a firefighter and a family man. He and his wife Tanya have two children, Alena, 5 and Zachary, 4.

Currently Beardslee is a few credits shy of completing his degree in fire science at Three Rivers Community College. Over the years, he has volunteered for a number of fire departments including North Stonington, Old Mystic, Mystic Hook and Ladder, Griswold and Preston.

“It’s really been a big part of who I am," he said. "There’s just a tremendous feeling when you roll up to someone’s house where there’s a bedroom fire and you work hard and keep it to the bedroom. It’s an accomplishment that feels good.”