Nora Grace-Flood photo
Outside Tuesday's funeral on Ferry St.
The late city firefighter Thomas Mieles.
Fair Haven families and New Haven public safety professionals filled Ferry Street Tuesday afternoon to mourn the loss of city firefighter Thomas Mieles, whose sudden off-duty passing has only sharpened the pain felt by a community still processing a series of recent deaths.
Hundreds gathered at St. Francis Church to celebrate the life of Mieles, a 27-year-old New Haven native and recent hire of the city’s fire department. Mieles was killed in an off-duty, five-vehicle highway crash on Nov. 3.
Read more here about Mieles, who worked at the Lombard Fire Station in Fair Haven and lived around the corner on Atwater Street.
Firefighters line up outside the Grand Ave. headquarters prior to Tuesday's funeral.
Chief John Alston: Mieles, a new recruit, representative of "exactly the types of people we want."
“This is our third death in 18 months,” Fire Chief John Alston said following the funeral, as he prepared to lead an extensive procession towards All Saints Cemetery in North Haven where Mieles will be laid to rest. Mieles’ death comes one year after the city fire department lost fellow firefighters Ricardo Torres, 30, to an on-duty death and William McMillian, 27, to an off-duty death.
Alston said Mieles was hired in January and was one of 32 recruits to make up the 63rd class of New Haven firefighters who graduated into the department this summer.
“We almost weren’t able to hire because of Covid and other administrative issues… the fact that he continued to try to get on the fire department showed his dedication,” Alston said. “Those are the types of people we want.”
He said that firefighters are relying on peer support from nearby communities of public safety workers, the department’s Employee Assistance Program, and therapy dogs to process this tragic string of deaths in the department.
Brandon Cromwell and James Sorrentino.
“It’s been rough,” city firefighter Brandon Cromwell, 40, said of the passing of his colleagues over the past several year. “We’re just getting over the death of one person and then you lose another member — it’s pretty difficult.”
He and his colleague, James Sorrentino, took a break from work Tuesday to watch from across the street as Miele’s casket was carried into the church. Neither Cromwell nor Sorrentino knew Mieles personally. Both said that his death weighed heavily on the “big family” that is the New Haven fire department.
The “camaraderie” of the department, Cromwell continued, means that “if you’re feeling down, we’re here for that.”
Niko Suave watches Tuesday's procession, ready to reach out a paw to anyone in need of support.
Brad Cole, the executive director and founder of the trauma response nonprofit K9 First Responders, Inc., was also present at the funeral alongside his therapy dog, Niko Suave, Tuesday at the request of the department and family members. Cole was also called into support firefighters the night of Mieles’ fatal crash.
Cole, a former police officer who has been called in by municipalities to facilitate grief counseling services during tragic circumstances like the Sandy Hook shooting or the Boston Marathon bombing, said Mieles’ death saw firefighters in “a daze, disbelief and shock.”
The firefighters responding to the fatal car crash in early November did not know prior to arriving at the scene that they would be attending to one of their own peers. He said whether Mieles’ death took place on or off duty, the event was a triggering reminder that “life is fragile” for a crew of people whose jobs mean “risking your life everyday.”
Firefighters were not the only people trying to process multiple losses of life during the service.
Kirt Swan: Missing second Fair Haven friend lost to a car crash this fall.
“We just lost another friend on Ferry Street,” funeral attendee and Fair Haven resident Kirt Swan told the Independent following the service, his eyes brimming with tears. He was referring to 20-year-old Antonio Jones, who died just over a month ago after being both shot and hit by a car on Ferry Street.
On Tuesday, Swan wore a red sweatshirt with a photo of himself and Jones reading “Long Live T‑Love.”
“Mieles has been my friend for over 10 years,” Swan said about the late city firefighter. “He grew up in the neighborhood. When I met him, it felt like I knew him forever.”
“I lived around the corner from him,” he said, adding that Mieles and his family “always welcomed everyone” into their home, feeding anyone in need of a meal and, in turn, finding new friends across the neighborhood.
“He never judged you,” Swan said. “He accepted you for you.”
“He’s just always been a good person,” Swan stated. “He lived for his family and friends. He was really caring.”
My condolences to the loved ones and coworkers of the deceased.
The NH fire department has had many losses in a very short period of time. I’m glad to see they are getting some mental health support from the department.
Society needs to offer more access to mental health support, including PTSD and grief counseling, and stress, anxiety and depression therapy made easily available and as commonly accepted as a physical checkup or a dentist appointment for everyone, but especially for all first responders.
Police, firefighters, EMTs and paramedics and others in similar jobs face trauma and stress and loss on a regular basis as part of the jobs we ask and need them to do. The culture of those jobs requires you to be tough and brave in the face of the worst circumstances in people’s lives, in order to perform their jobs. Just like physical healthcare benefits, regular and easy access mental healthcare benefits including checkups, and mental health support systems access should be part of the culture and part of the benefits package you get when you are hired by these departments and employers.