The City of Morden is losing another one of its longtime familiar faces with the coming retirement of Morden Fire & Rescue’s Chief Andy Thiessen.
It follows closely on the heels of the pending retirement of police Chief Brad Neduzak, and like the latter, Thiessen said it was not an easy decision.
“It’s hard in the heart to say it’s time to move along, but I think it’s the right time,” he said. “If I hated my job, it would be easier, right, but I don’t. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
His retirement at the end of September will bring to a close a storied career where he hit a couple major milestones with 45 years of service on the fire department, including the last 30 years as its chief.
“It’s probably a year or so earlier than I had anticipated perhaps five years ago,” he noted. “I had kind of had a date in mind … but then all of a sudden, it just started feeling right.
“A lot of my colleagues around the province are either getting sick or passing away, so I’m thinking maybe it’s time,” Thiessen said, adding he felt the department was in good shape now in many respects, including its staffing, equipment, and training.
“I didn’t want to leave if I knew there were any issues and such … and there are none, so now was a good time to go when things are in good shape … we have a full complement of people, and training has been going well … so everything is really good right now.”
Thiessen reflected on how much things have changed over the course of his career in terms of the growth of Morden and the resulting growth of the fire department.
“We’ve pretty much doubled in size,” he said. “When I started back in 1986 we had 22 members, and now we’re at 40. And the equipment we have now compared to when I started … when you start looking back, there’s been a lot of changes.
“The training has also really changed, and our turnout gear has changed, and all for the better,” Thiessen said, citing the variety of specialized training they need to have now. “We train a lot differently … in the last 10 or 15 years, the training has ramped up a lot.”
He also cited the value of such initiatives as having their training site in the Morden industrial park.
“So there’s lots of things in place to make sure that we can do our jobs as safely as we can,” said Thiessen, who also praised the department’s members for their volunteer service and level of dedication.
“Whenever they are needed, there’s never a shortage … there’s always people who are ready to step up.”
Any parting advice for whoever steps into the role?
“It’s often having patience. Things don’t happen overnight. You have to plan for it,” Thiessen said. “And listen to the guys who are around you … you definitely want to have their input always.”
