Episode 17 - Andy MacDonald

Andy MacDonald served with the City of Brampton Fire and Emergency Services for over 37 years, starting as a Volunteer Fire Fighter in 1977. After graduating from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Science degree, he began his career as a professional Fire Fighter in 1979.  Andy rose through the ranks in Brampton.  He was appointed Assistant Deputy in 1999, Deputy in 2003 and Fire Chief in January 2008.   Chief MacDonald continued his personal/professional development throughout his career.  Andy holds Queen’s IRC Certificates in Labour Relations, Advanced Labour Relations, and Organization Development Fundamentals, and he participated in the program on negotiations at the Harvard Law School. Andy also studied at York University and the Ontario Fire College.  Since 2001, Andy has spent a large portion of his vacation time as a facilitator at the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre, teaching in the Labour Relations field. Chief MacDonald retired from Brampton Fire in June of 2014.  On August 1st of that same year he was appointed the Director of Fire Management Studies at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.  Andy oversaw the development of two major initiatives, the Executive Certificate in Fire Services Management and a 2-year Fire Service Foundations Diploma.  Under Andy’s guidance, the University of Guelph/Humber accepted the first four Fire Service students into a pilot Applied Arts Degree in Public Safety Management in September 2015.  With the Humber Programs “in the can”, Andy moved on to the City of Guelph where he worked under contract for 2-years as the General Manager of Emergency Services.  In that role, Andy was responsible for the Guelph Fire Department and the Guelph/Wellington Paramedic Services. Andy spends his time these days working as a consultant as the Principal Partner of the Anderin Group.  One of his clients is Homewood Health where Andy is a consultant to the 1st Responder Community.  His work sees Andy speaking about Operational Stress Injuries and 1st Responder Mental Health on the national stage. Throughout his life, Andy took on a number of projects outside of his professional responsibilities.  In 1997, he conceived of the idea of constructing a stand-alone center for fire and life safety education.  Dedicating 7-years of his life to the project; he saw Brampton’s award-winning Fire/Life Education Centre open in 2003.  In 1985 he rappelled off the CN Tower to raise money for a Toronto burn unit, earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of Records.  He is currently on the National Advisory Board for Camp F.A.C.E.S and is on the Conference Board of the Canadian Critical Incident Stress Foundation.