CHESHIRE, Conn. — A mild nor'easter made for a good day to have lunch indoors with friends, until a destructive head-on car crash unfolded before firefighter Bernie Meehan's eyes on Route 170 in Cheshire .

“'Wow, there’s a crash right in front of me.' And I didn’t even have time to react, hardly," Meehan said. “It happened maybe 500 feet in front of me."

Meehan is the deputy chief at the Danbury Fire Department, a volunteer firefighter at the Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department, and a fire coordinator for Litchfield County. Suffice it to say, he has seen a lot, both on duty and happening across emergencies that allow him to put his lifesaving skills to use.

This one was different, though, because it played out right in front of him.

“I kind of have a history of coming across things. Ye

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