Duty-bound

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Firefighters and family continue their vigil

By Kate Reardon

Herald Writer

When Lt. Raymond Murphy’s engine company with the New York Fire Department came back from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, his family thought he too was safe.

Niece Anne Julson of Lake Stevens said she didn’t find out until the next morning that Uncle Ray wasn’t on that fire truck. Instead, he was on the missing list.

He had jumped into a police car and was last seen with others heading for the World Trade Center parking garage, she said.

A shattering last image picture of Murphy walking to the site just after the first tower’s collapse was taken by a fellow firefighter who was later separated from Murphy and made it through alive.

Although rescuers continued to scour through World Trade Center rubble this week, the last survivor emerged from the wreckage a week ago.

More than 5,400 people are missing; about 300 are firefighters. A new bronze statue depicting a praying firefighter kneeling on one knee originally cast to honor fallen firefighters in Missouri was donated to New York.

The news has touched firefighters and police officers around the world and in Snohomish County.

Black bands across badges honor those who have fallen in the line of duty. Community members this week have shown an amazing outpouring of support to local firefighters by dropping off baked goods, flowers and cards to fire stations across the county.

Fire stations have turned out to be a place where people feel they can release all these emotions they are feeling, firefighters said.

Later, several firefighters from Snohomish County will go to the East Coast when a formal memorial service is planned there.

"It’s probably one of the few professions that by just being a firefighter there’s a sense of brotherhood," said Capt. Steve Guptill of the Monroe Fire Department. "We’re all a part of the same labor union so we’re all connected by that organization as well."

For Everett Fire Chief Murray Gordon the brotherhood means having instant friends around the world.

"One of the things I recognized early in my career was how fortunate I was to belong to an organization where I was able to tell my friends that I had two families," he said. "Early in our careers, we talk about how important it is for teamwork and safety and protection. It’s instilled to the point that when someone is in danger and you have to risk a similar danger yourself, you would do that to protect your brother firefighter’s life."

Gordon said that’s why firefighters in New York will search and hold out hope until there’s no shred of a chance that someone might be alive in some pocket of the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Edmonds firefighter Andy Speier is in New York helping look for many of the missing firefighters. The Bronx native flew back Friday and is helping to look for friends from his former fire company, Ladder 4, caught in the rubble during the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Speier has worked with Edmonds for about five years.

"It’s comforting to know he’s back there," Edmonds Fire Chief Tom Tomberg said. "He was an employee of the New York Fire Department. He was born and raised there. His family is there, and when he goes back he has always maintained his relationships with those firefighters. He really has a special mission because of those prior relationships."

Julson, her sister, Eileen Murphy, and their mother, Ann Murphy, hope to fly back as early as this weekend to support family members.

Rescuers found the body of Lt. Murphy’s partner, Julson said, but they have not found any sign of Murphy, a 46-year-old firefighter with the department 19 years who was once named the hero of the month in a New York newspaper.

"The first few days we were just waiting by the phone and watching every bit of news coverage and hoping and praying," Julson said. "We were all trying to be so strong and hopeful, but as the days wore on, it didn’t seem possible (he’d be found)."

Julson said she’s praying for everyone who’s going through this awful mess.

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455 or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.