Five years ago, Conrad Murdoch was studying geography at the University of Victoria when he realized it wasn’t his calling.
“I just didn’t see myself going anywhere with it,” he said.
So, he took a year off. In his quest to figure out what to do next, he turned to a demographic already well into their careers: his parents’ friends.
“I talked to them about what they did and firefighting seemed pretty cool,” he said.
Murdoch knew becoming a paid, full-time firefighter is both a journey and commitment, but after he was hired as ski patroller on Blackcomb and met a few coworkers who also served as firefighters, the idea became more and more appealing.
“I picked away at some of the courses,” he said. “There’s a huge list of fire-related courses, as far as being able to qualify for a full-time job; the [National Fire Protection Association] 10 certification, the first responders first aid license, and at least an air brake endorsement to drive the truck. Then there are always other courses you can add to the resume.”
For his part, Murdoch ended up attending fire academy at the College of the Rockies in Kimberley. Afterward, he served as a paid on-call firefighter, and, last November, became the first-born-and-raised Whistlerite to be hired by the Whistler Fire Rescue Service (WFRS) as a full-time firefighter.
“I think it’s super cool being in a small town,” he added. “You get to know everyone. It does feel good to give something back to the place I grew up. This town has given me so much. The least I can do is be in some sort of service role. I’d love to keep volunteering with other things too.”
Mitchell Hunter, deputy fire chief, said Murdoch is a welcome addition to the department.
“Conrad brings a wide range of industry skill and certifications to the WFRS, including his expertise of serving as ski patroller,” he wrote in an email. “In addition to his professional experience, Conrad has a deep connection and understanding of the community given his life in Whistler, which makes him an incredible asset to the department.”
While there are certainly advantages to knowing a town as intimately as Murdoch when working as a firefighter, there’s also the inevitability of helping someone you know during your career as well.
“That’s definitely something that’s on my mind,” Murdoch said. “In bigger cities, you have a higher call volume. Here, you could know someone. It’s a small town. I’m sure at some point I’ll have to go through something like that. With training and practice, you learn to stay calm and work with your team.”
Becoming a firefighter might have given him a career path, but it also helped him find a way to stay in the home he loves.
“I hit the jackpot from Day 1 that my parents chose to move here before I was born,” he said. “I always wanted to figure out a way to stay here.”
A skier since age two, throughout his childhood Murdoch got into freesking in the winter and enduro racing in the summer.
“It was definitely a great place to grow up,” he said. “It was pretty sweet to have access to the trails and a ski hill here. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
For young Whistlerites looking to pursue a similar career path, Murdoch has a suggestion.
“If they’re still in high school, they should try the junior firefighting program,” he said. “It’s three or four days of hands-on experience. You get to flow water, put water on a real fire, cut up a car. They do a really good job of showing what the job is like in a condensed amount of time. If anything, I just say work hard, look into it, ask questions.”
For more on the junior firefighter program, visit whistler.ca/fire.
