Lac La Hache mourns longtime fire chief

Terry Murphy was never one to sing his own praises, even when he was deserving of it. 

The chief of the Lac La Hache Volunteer Fire Department since 2010, Murphy has been a solid and dependable member of the community for close to two decades. During that time he helped build and fostered an effective team at the fire department and was well known for helping community members in any way he could. His sudden death on July 7 has left many in the community in mourning.

"He was a very caring individual and an excellent fire chief. He went well beyond the needs of our fire hall locally in helping people out," Brent Rutherford, a semi-retired deputy fire chief with the fire department, recalled. "Anybody that was in the fire family or anybody he knew he would always say to them 'I'm only a phone call away' day or night." 

Acting LLHVFD chief Don Aaltonen, Murphy's strong right hand for the last several years, agrees that the community of Lac La Hache has suffered a great loss. Murphy had the qualifications to become a chief in a major city and would always be ready to help those in need within the community, whether it was mowing their lawn or organizing a work bee. 

"In the community of Lac La Hache he would do so much extra," Aaltonen said. "He was a man of very few words but he was a true champion of the town. He was a great man. He was very community-minded. There's lots of volunteers and there's the next level volunteers who stand out and I would say Terry stood out in Lac La Hache." 

Prior to moving to Lac La Hache, Murphy worked for the Ministry of Transportation for 25 years helping build many of the highways and roads across B.C. During this time, as a manager, he learned how to manage a team in his signature quiet and collaborative way, skills that would serve him well in his later role as fire chief. 

After moving to Lac La Hache from the Kootenays in 2005, Rutherford said Murphy joined the fire department on July 5, 2006, at a time when the department was still finding its feet after reforming in 1999. Murphy quickly rose through the ranks to take on a leadership role, bringing organization and a sense of professionalism to the department. 

Roger Hollander, the Cariboo Regional District's regional fire chief, joined the LLHVFD the same day as Murphy and later served under him as his deputy chief from 2010 to 2015. Outside of their work on the fire department, he said Murphy was a good friend to him and his family. 

"It was such a pleasure to work with Terry. He was such a gentleman and a kind person. Very compassionate, such a professional," Hollander said. "He did a lot of volunteering in Lac La Hache and around the province. He will certainly be missed. He made that department what it is today." 

In addition to his managerial skills, Hollander noted Murphy would take care of a lot of the day-to-day aspects of running a fire hall. This included keeping the lights on, stocking the hall with toilet paper and putting in systems the department still uses.

Despite his unassuming nature and diminutive size, Rutherford said Murphy possessed "incredible power" in what he did and how he spoke. 

"Terry had an innate ability to just look at an (emergency) scene and analyze it very quickly. He never let the scene or the incident get the best of him," Rutherford said. "We'd get a call out and he would say 'chief responding to the page' and all of us would (be relieved). He'd go off in squad one, go to the scene and would report back so by the time we all got to the hall we were already appraised of what was happening out there and what he wanted." 

By the time the rest of the department would arrive Murphy would know where he wanted them to stage, if mutual aid was needed and if other emergency services were required. Rutherford said he would deliver his instructions in a calm but authoritative manner. 

This calm demeanour extended to whenever the department had meetings before or after incidents. Even when discussions got heated he would always keep a cool head, Rutherford said, and made sure when highlighting mistakes not to single out individuals. Aaltonen noted he was also never one to take individual credit, instead ensuring it was shared by the entire department. 

"He would always refer to the team, that we did it together. If someone would say 'well done Terry' he'd go 'No, it was the team'," Aaltonen said. 

"He said 'I've learned over the years you don't learn by pulling people along, you lead by example and move them forward.' That was him all the time," Rutherford added. 

Rutherford recalled a time when the department responded to a rollover where the driver, a father of two, had died with his wife and their two kids in the car. The wife hadn't wanted to leave her husband even after their children had been removed from the car and were standing by the side of the road. He said Murphy stood there patiently waiting for her to grieve.

"Finally he put his hand on her shoulder and said 'Ma'am, I don't think you can be much help to him now, but there are two little kids standing on the side of the road and I think you could be a lot of help to them now'," Rutherford said. "The lady turned to him and gave him such a big hug and Terry wasn't really a hugger. She went up the slope to her little kids and Terry came along with two stuffed bears for the kids."

Both Rutherford and Aaltonen agreed that Murphy was always the "consummate professional" no matter the situation. For Aaltonen, he said one of Murphy's finest moments happened this summer when a bus of 100 Mile House Elementary School and Horse Lake Elementary School students crashed on Highway 97. 

Aaltonen said he and Murphy were the first emergency responders on the scene and there was a lot of chaos all around them. He said Murphy took in the scene, pulled him close, and told him they had to "come up with a plan real fast here Don." Murphy went on to coordinate the response to the crash organizing five fire departments, 13 ambulances, five helicopters, numerous RCMP and bystanders with skills that could be utilized. 

"At the end of it all, he and I talked and he said that was the worst incident he had ever been on in his life and he was so grateful for how great everyone did, not including himself," Aaltonen said. "He passed that torch to everybody else but it was his leadership that made it happen. He didn't get involved in the chaos he kept the group together."

Hollander said that the bus crash was the last time he and Murphy responded to a call together. Murphy did "an amazing job" as the incident commander and it was an honour to work with him. 

When he wasn't being a fire chief or volunteering in the community, Murphy could typically be found on the lake in his boat blasting country music. Hollander noted Murphy also would volunteer his time working with the BC Wildfire Service, was a volunteer for the Fire Chiefs Association of B.C. and was a strong advocate for firefighters' mental health. 

"Anybody that knew him knows what a loss we're all experiencing without him," Hollander said. 

Murphy passed away suddenly due to natural causes on July 7 at the age of 62, leaving behind his wife Bianca and his children. Aaltonen said he and the rest of the fire department are organizing a Celebration of Life for him on Saturday, Aug. 3, starting at 11 a.m. at the Rolf Zeis Memorial Arena. Anyone who knew Murphy is invited to attend and share their memories of him. 

"I'm sure the crowd we're going to get will be huge because he is well known everywhere across B.C. We're planning for 300 to 400," Aaltonen remarked.