By Alexandra Pedrini

Murphy Fire Chief Mark Lee does more than put out fires in and out of the office. While working on getting his Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and serving as chief, Lee also works as part of a team to bring an emergency preparedness class to Murphy.

With multiple decades of firer-fighting experience under his belt, Lee joined the Murphy department in 2006 as assistant chief. Now as chief, he said even though riding the fire trucks was more fun, he learned the new challenges of administration.

One of his latest projects is working with a team to start a Community Emergency Response Team trained in disaster preparedness. This team will take classes to learn about basic skills in first aid, search and rescue and disaster readiness in case of emergency.

Because Murphy is a one fire station town, the fire truck and ambulance can only answer one call at a time. Typically other stations from surrounding areas send assistance whenever needed, Lee said. But when Murphy is affected by a disaster such as a tornado or sever storm, the towns around who work with the department and provide mutual aid, cannot send help because their area has been affected too. This emergency response team will be trained in what to do until help does arrive. Lee said he hopes to begin classes in October. 

“We hope we never have a live event for them to respond to in the sense of a disaster,” Lee said.

This team will also be trained in search and rescue for situations such as a missing person or child. This team will help the fire fighters in a prolonged accident, he said.

The team will be called in for various emergencies where large numbers of people are needed, but they can also be called to aid the fire department when fighting a prolonged fire. The team will be asked to provide rehab supplies. Lee said they’d like to have somebody to bring in water, ice cold wet towels and other supplies to help keep the fire fighters from becoming dehydrated since putting out a fire is very taxing on the body.

“Murphy is a community in every sense of the word,” Lee said. “People tend to be very involved in their neighborhoods and their town. Most of the people here are of the giving spirit and like to help.”