Murrieta Mourns Loss Of Beloved Firefighter, Comrade

MURRIETA, CA — The Southwest Riverside County police and fire community is mourning the loss of one of their own this week. Dean Hale, who was a member of the Murrieta Fire & Rescue, died Friday after what was described as "a long battle with job-related cancer."

"Dean was a beloved husband, father, brother, friend and fireman," the fire department announced on Facebook. "Our thoughts and prayers remain with his family."

Hale was a longtime public servant to the city of Murrieta, and worked for the municipality since 2007. Before that, he worked for the city of Alhambra for 17 years.

Hale is survived by his wife, Audrey, and three children, Wyatt, Brittany and Stephanie.

Messages of love came pouring in on social media following the news of Hale's passing.

Murrieta Fire & Rescue Chief David Lantzer described Hale as "selfless to the core," according to Valley News.

"We have lost not only a beautiful human being and brother today, but we’ve lost one of God’s angels on earth," Lantzer told the news organization. "Dean Hale was selfless to the core; I never heard him complain about his condition; he insisted on coming to work when he struggled even to walk without falling. Dean Hale embodied what it means to be a Murrieta firefighter, and I can only hope we can emulate him at the level he has set for us. I know my people … and I know we can."

In September, the Murrieta Firefighters Association hosted the Hilltop Festival to raise funds to help pay for Hale's medical care. In a GoFundMe page connected to that event, a statement from Hale himself described what he was going through.

"I was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2008, following an annual physical,”he said. "Soon after, a test revealed it to be Stage 4, nonsmall cell lung cancer."

Valley News reports that Hale said he was told he was cancer-free months later, but it returned two more times; the most recently in 2018.

Memorial service information was not immediately announced for Hale.