Santa! Fire Chief Lee’s friend from up north is coming for a visit! Starting on December 12th Santa Claus will be touring our town! He will be riding on top of the Murphy Fire Department fire engine waving to all of his friends and passing out candy. The tour will begin in the Northwest section of Murphy in the Rolling Ridge neighborhood and travel south east until he has had a chance to see all of Murphy. Santa anticipates taking about five nights to tour Murphy, however, if the fire truck and firefighters are needed for an emergency he might take a little longer. Start listening between 5:30 and 8:00pm for the toot of the fire truck’s siren and horn, then come on out and see Santa in your very own neighborhood. (Santa’s nightly schedule will be updated on the City of Murphy’s facebook page)
Fire Department Drive-Thru Toy Drive

Christmas Fire Safety
The top three Christmas fire safety issues concern candles, decorations and cooking. Chief Lee cautions to keep candles away from decorations and other flammable items. Some things that are beautiful, such as a candle in a bowl surrounded by potpourri can lead to an ugly disaster. Always verify that candles are put out before going to bed or leaving your house.
Regarding Christmas lights make sure they have the label of an independent testing laboratory on the box before buying or using them. Never connect more strands of lights beyond the recommended label on the lights package.
Always stay in the kitchen when you are using the stove.
First Rate Fire Fighters Attributes
Integrity is the descriptive Chief Lee affirms as the paramount characteristic a fire fighter must possess. Along with integrity, which by definition means an “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty” comes the ability to distinguish the right action and the ability to perform that action under difficult times. Chief Lee gives the example of a grandparent handing a fire fighter their grandchild to take care of at a house fire – in that instant the grandparent must trust that the fire fighter has a history of integrity.
Another attribute of a successful fire fighter is a servant’s mentality, Chief Lee explains, “this is a service occupation.” Jokingly Chief Lee shares a quote “People who are sane run out of a burning building, firefighters run into burning buildings.” Chief Lee summarizes the mentality of a fire fighter by saying, “Fearing the dangerous power of fire triggers the courage to fight the fire.”