There is a gaping hole in the fabric of the Spring Valley community after the unexpected death of longtime Fire Chief Terry Shafer, who died Saturday, Feb. 25 while on a weekend trip with his brothers. He was 62. Shafer joined Spring Valley Fire in 1979 and began wearing the white chief’s helmet in 1986. Although he passed the chief title on to longtime Assistant Fire Chief Mike Fitzjarrell Jan. 1, he said in an interview with the Herald in January that he couldn’t imagine not being on the fire department. He was also a member of Spring Valley Ambulance for 20 years.