Anderson, Richard “Andy”

Source: Veteran’s Banner Placement List 2025

Service highlights

  • Name: Richard “Andy” Anderson
  • Rank: Master Warrant Officer (MWO)
  • Trade: Firefighter (MOSID 00149)
  • Enrolled: 22 Sep 1980 (Kitchener, Ontario)
  • Retired: 30 Aug 2009 (29+ years service)
  • Operational deployment: Kandahar, Afghanistan (Feb to Sep 2006), Task Force Fire Marshal
  • Senior training role: Canadian Forces Fire Academy (QL 3 and QL 5 Senior Instructor; School Master Warrant Officer)
  • Decoration: Canadian Forces Decoration (CD)
  • After military service:
    • Fire Chief, Town of St. Marys (from May 2016; later departed in May 2025) Town of St. Marys+1

A Life and Service, Remembered

Richard “Andy” Anderson built his career in a kind of service most people only notice when something goes wrong. Military firefighting is built around prevention, readiness, and calm decision-making in places where risk is always close: airfields, ships, workshops, fuel systems, and family housing. When the standard is “nothing can fail,” the work is often quiet, but never small.

He enrolled in 1980 and trained as a firefighter through the Canadian Forces system, then began a career that moved wherever the job demanded. His postings took him repeatedly to 19 Wing Comox, into naval service on the West Coast, and overseas to Germany with his family. Over time, his responsibilities grew from doing the work well to leading others and setting the conditions that keep crews safe before an alarm ever sounds.

That leadership sharpened further in roles that combined supervision with inspection and prevention, and it culminated operationally in Kandahar in 2006 as the Task Force Fire Marshal. In a theatre where hazards multiply and stakes are immediate, that job is about protecting people and capability at the same time.

In his final years in uniform, Andy shifted into the part of service that leaves a long legacy: training. At the Canadian Forces Fire Academy he helped shape firefighters from apprentice level through to senior leadership standards, and later served as the School Master Warrant Officer, responsible for the welfare and readiness of both staff and students.

After retiring from the Canadian Forces in 2009, he continued serving in public safety, including leading the St. Marys Fire Department beginning in 2016 and later moving on to a Deputy Fire Chief role in Stratford in 2025. cmea-agmc.ca+2Town of St. Marys+2

Key postings and roles:

Canadian Forces Fire Academy (CFB Borden) (QL3 & QL5 Senior Instructor; later School Master Warrant Officer)

19 Wing Comox (BC) (three separate postings)

HMCS Provider (Esquimalt, BC)

CFB Baden-Sollingen (Germany)

HMCS Huron (Esquimalt, BC)

HMCS Algonquin (Senior Firefighter)

14 Wing Greenwood (NS) (Deputy Platoon Chief, Platoon Chief, Chief Fire Inspector)

Learn More:

CMEA Profile
Town of St. Marys