Firefighter Killed While Battling Brush Fire Identified: Meriden PD

MERIDEN, CT — The Wethersfield firefighter killed while battling a massive brush fire in Berlin has been identified as 66-year-old Robert Sharkevich, Meriden police said in an update late Tuesday night.

Berlin police notified the Meriden Police Department on Tuesday evening that they were at the scene of a utility vehicle (UTV) accident in the woods involving four Wethersfield firefighters, according to Meriden Deputy Police Chief Jerry Scully.

One firefighter suffered fatal injuries, and was still at the scene, and three other firefighters were injured and taken to area hospitals with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, according to Scully.

Scully said the firefighters were “bravely assisting in battling the Lamentation Mountain brush fire believed to have originated in Berlin.”

Berlin police determined the accident had occurred in Meriden, and once confirmed, Scully said the Meriden Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit in partnership with the Meriden Detective Division Evidence Identification unit assumed the investigation. They were assisted by the Midstate Accident Reconstruction Unit.

Scully said the preliminary investigation determined the UTV was operating on a steep rocky incline, as part of the firefighting efforts, when it rolled over onto Sharkevich and killed him.

Sharkevich was also a retired Hartford firefighter, according to Scully.

Scully said the incident remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact lead investigator William White at wwhite@meridenct.gov or 203-630-6201.

“The Meriden Police Department extends our deepest condolences and gratitude to Robert Sharkevich’s family, Chief Brian Schroll, the Wethersfield Fire Department, and the entire firefighting community on your loss,” Scully wrote in a news release.