UPDATE (Monday, May 8, 2023): This article has been updated to reflect the correct year Bill Halstead was elected chief of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company.

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EMMITSBURG, MD. — Bill Halstead will be among those remembered next month during the 2023 National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend.

The Sandy Hook native and longtime chief of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company (SHVFR) died in July 2022. He suffered a fatal heart attack a few hours after returning home from a fire call.

His death was considered a line of duty death, which has led to him being included in state and national memorials.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation hosts the annual memorial weekend. Events for family members and fire service personnel are conducted at FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center campus in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Memorial weekend events this year are planned for Saturday and Sunday, May 6-7.

Families of the deceased have been invited to spend time at the National Memorial for a family chapel vigil, and visit the Walk of Honor, ahead of an evening candlelight service at the National Memorial.

Sunday’s activities will include a Sea of Blue, with fire service members standing at attention as families arrive for the National Memorial Service at 10 am.

The events are open to the public. Those unable to attend in person can view livestreams on the homepage of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s website (firehero.org), NFFF’s YouTube Channel, and its Facebook page.

The late Sandy Hook chief is one of 144 firefighters in the 2023 Roll of Honor — 79 firefighters who died in 2022 and 65 who died in previous years — and one of two from Connecticut.

Matthias A. Wirtz, of North Haven Fire Department, is also on this year’s roll of honor. Firefighter Wirtz suffered a fatal heart attack on December 26, 2022, while on the scene of a fire at a multi-family home.

Halstead had served continuously as chief of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company for 44 years, having been elected to the position in 1978.

He joined the department in January 1965 when he turned 16.

Halstead also worked for the State of Connecticut at Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown for 25 years. He was the chief of the hospital’s fire department until his retirement in 1997.

He also served as Deputy Fire Marshal for the Town of Newtown from 1983 to 2001, and became the full-time Marshal in 2001 until he retired from that position in 2016. He also served as Newtown’s Emergency Management Director for 23 years.

This year will be the first time the Memorial Weekend will be held in May rather than October, as it has been for decades.

The change was made because of the frequent uncertainties of October weather along with potential federal government shutdowns, which could impact the ability to access the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park.

In the days ahead and immediately following the events in Emmitsburg, NFFF annually organizes Light The Night for Fallen Firefighters. Landmarks, fire and community organizations, businesses, and homes across the country are invited to light up in red.

The event begins on International Firefighters Day, May 4. It continues this year to Monday, May 7.

Halstead was among those memorialized in September during the Connecticut State Firefighters 20th Annual Memorial Service in Windsor Locks.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.