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ESTEVAN — Estevan's Ken Murray will be forever grateful to U.S. Border Patrol agent Keith Termine for saving Murray's life.
Termine, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, rescued Murray from a fire near the Canada-U.S. border in March 2021. His efforts were rewarded on Oct. 20 when he was presented with a silver bravery award from the Royal Canadian Humane Association (RCHA) at Government House in Regina. Termine is the first-ever American to receive the award.
And Murray was among those in attendance. It was the first time they had seen each other since the fire.
Murray recalled that on March 26, 2021, he was at his farm south of Roche Percee, welding the corners on a fence. The grass caught fire, and while he had water to combat the flames, he eventually ran out of the liquid. The fire grew quickly and Murray decided to move his truck.
"The fire was getting big fast, and I just wanted it out of the way, but what I didn't know was it was already on fire on the driver's side. If Keith didn't show up, I would have ended up in much worse shape," said Murray.
Termine said he was performing his normal patrol duties along the border that day. He saw a bit of smoke coming from a field, used his binoculars to see what was happening and saw the fire.
"I saw a dark-coloured vehicle that seemed to be driving back and forth a little erratically close to the flames. Initially, I thought it was odd that with the weather we had that day, a farmer would be burning off a field or a slough, having a controlled burn," said Termine.
After watching the fire for a couple of seconds, he knew something was wrong. He saw black smoke coming from the vehicle, indicating it was on fire.
As he approached, Termine called on his radio to get the fire department to respond. He had to travel through a field with waist-high grass to reach Murray.
"When I got to the point where I thought I had last seen him through the binoculars, he was not there. I started looking around," recalled Termine. "At that time, I could tell where the vehicle was due to the darker smoke. He basically started walking out of the smoke towards the direction of my truck, where I was at, and as he walked up, it was obvious that something was happening."
Not realizing the extent of the burns, Termine told a hesitant and probably shocked Murray to get in the truck.
"As quick as I could, we got out of there, because at that point where I picked him up, we were directly in the path of the encroaching fire. It was moving at a pretty fast rate across the path of the grass," said Termine.
"As I looked in the rearview mirror, I could see the tracks that I laid in the grass engulfed in flames. And we weren't 50 yards from where I picked him up before the flames were able to get to his location," he added.
"At that point, I don't know if Mr. Murray would have been able to outrun it or not. I'm glad we didn't have to find out. But he was in rough shape."
Once they were safe, Termine made more phone calls to get Murray to hospital. He estimates he was a mile away when he first saw the smoke and he was able to respond within a couple of minutes.
It took a large effort to extinguish the blaze. Murray's neighbour Brian Dukart showed up with his tractor to help, but the grass along the border hadn't been cut or grazed for over 30 years, Murray said.
The fire required the attention of the Columbus Fire Department and the U.S. Border Patrol from the American side, and the Estevan Fire Rescue Service, the Estevan RCMP and its border enforcement team from the Canadian side.
Termine remained at the scene while Murray's brother took him to the hospital.
"I was wearing fire-retardant pants, because I worked in the oilfield … just a safety precaution. But what happened was the long johns underneath caught fire, and turned the pants into an oven, which really damaged my leg," said Murray.
He was in the burn unit of a hospital in Regina for 12 days, recovering from the injuries. Then he had to go to St. Joseph's Hospital for two months to get his dressing changed for the wound. He expressed his gratitude to the ambulatory unit nurses at St. Joe's for the level of care.
"From March 26th to July 5th, I never walked," said Murray. "It was bad. I needed surgery to fix it. Because the tendons were cooked and the Achilles tendon was basically cooked, I have a limited stretch with it."
The worst of the burns were from just below the knee to the top of his right foot. These are injuries he'll have to deal with for the rest of his life.
Murray said he tried to meet Termine to say thanks, but he never had the opportunity to do so until the awards ceremony. He was certainly glad to reconnect with his hero.
"As you can imagine, he is going on my Christmas [card] list," said Murray.
Receiving the award was a unique feeling, Termine said, especially since it is from another country.
"It's a real special thing. I had a lot of fun in Regina and met a lot of good people. Got to shake hands with the lieutenant governor [Russell Mirasty]. It was real neat."
It was also great to see the man whose life he saved for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years.
Murray came away marvelling at what other people had done to earn their awards.
"I think there were three suicides prevented by other people. And there were other things. The RCMP was there getting awarded for saving other people's lives out of a burning building."
Tim Popp with the Royal Canadian Humane Association's Saskatchewan chapter said the head office in Edmonton determines the award recipients and the level.
"The RCMP of Estevan heard about the incident, what had happened, and they reported it to F Division headquarters' honours and awards committee," said Popp, who sits on the committee as a retired member of the RCMP.
He believed Termine was a fitting recipient and the first American to be recognized, and suggested a silver medal. There is a gold medal, but that is reserved for someone who dies or suffers a life-altering injury while trying to rescue somebody. Silver involves extreme danger or results in an injury.
