Lieutenant Raymond Murphy of Ladder 16 entered the FDNY Academy in 1982. Quite soon after he knew he had found his calling. In September 2000 he was promoted to Lieutenant.
Apparently a disinterest in school as a youngster led the way to an interest in learning all things as an adult and when he decided to move his young family to a home closer to Long Island Sound, he and 20-30 firefighter friends took seven days and turned a tiny bungalow into a 2-story home large enough for his family.
On 9/11 he responded with two other firefighters from Ladder 16. One of them returned home. That firefighter took this now famous photo of Ray heading back towards Tower 1 minutes after the South Tower collapsed. He was going to help rescue more people.
