WINSLOW — Mike Murphy grew up a firehouse brat.

The fire station became a second home during his father’s four decades of firefighting in central Maine. Now, Murphy is building on that legacy with his recent appointment to full-time chief at the Winslow Fire Department, plus 34 years of firefighting experience.

The Winslow Town Council voted unanimously Monday to approve Murphy’s appointment with a salary of $95,500 at its meeting at the Winslow Public Library. Residents welcomed him with a round of applause.

Murphy, a Fairfield resident, has been interim fire chief in Winslow since early this year. In his two years at the Winslow Fire Department, he has built and presented municipal budgets, created an interfacility ambulance transport program and developed emergency management planning to keep residents safe.

As chief, Murphy said he wants to lead a modern, well-trained fire department with a focus on the community.

“I want a community-oriented fire department with high expectations for my guys with training,” Murphy said. “If the budget allows, I will send them to whatever school they want to improve themselves as well.”

In addition to 34 years working for Fairfield and Benton Fire-Rescue Department, where he is still a call firefighter, Murphy took an open lieutenant position in Winslow in 2023. He went on to become Winslow’s deputy chief and then interim fire chief after the Public Safety Department dissolved in 2025.

Travis Leary, Fairfield’s fire chief, said Murphy is well-suited for the full-time chief position.

“He’s definitely extremely dedicated, loyal to the fire service,” Leary said. “Just always willing to do what’s needed to make sure the department moves in a positive way.”

Murphy created Winslow’s first-ever interfacility transport program in 2024. The town had run an ambulance transport service for years, but when Murphy learned the third town ambulance was slated to be sold, he said he pushed to keep the ambulance and develop a new program to transfer patients from one facility to another — from a hospital to a skilled nursing facility, for instance.

“I put a lot of hours behind it to get approval for interfacility transfers, and we are doing interfacility transfers now,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a new pumper coming to replace an aging pumper tanker, that was a lot of work with the career guys and myself to get that done. We’ve had some hurdles to jump over here, but so far, everything’s worked out — just hard work, time and persistence.”

With Waterville’s only in-patient hospital set to close in June, interfacility transports will soon change. The region’s fire chiefs have worked together to plan for that while maintaining the web of mutual aid that ensures no community is without support on a fire call.

Murphy said the local chiefs work well together because of their decades of history.

“We all came up together,” Murphy said. “Jason Frost, Everett Flannery in Waterville, Dave Groder in Augusta, Ryan Johnston in Skowhegan, Travis Leary in Fairfield. We’ve all known each other for years, we’ve all come up through the ranks somewhat together. We’ve done a lot of training together, so we work extremely well together.”

Leary, who has worked with Murphy on shift and in leadership roles for decades, said his drive to check in on others sets him apart.

“Mike’s always the one that loves to follow up on stuff,” Leary said. “So if we have a bad call, he always reaches out and says: ‘Hey, how are you doing? Do you need to talk?’ Not (just) right after the emergency, but the days after, the weeks after, just continuing to check up on people. That’s probably one of his best things, that he’s always willing to put himself out there to help somebody through a difficult situation.”

Murphy said any department can be improved with the right attitude and leadership.

“You can’t appease everybody, but you can definitely make what you have work,” Murphy said. “You can definitely change and improve the department that you came to.”