My Story

Andrew Robinson is President and CEO of The Wildland Firefighter Research and Protection Center and is predominately responsible for the strategic direction, vision, and growth of the non-profit organization.

Andrew moved to Oregon with his family when he was in the third grade. He started fighting fires for the Oregon Department of Forestry at age nineteen as a summer job while attending college at Southern Oregon University. During Andrew’s first year as a Wildland Firefighter, he worked on a hand crew digging fire lines. During Andrew’s second year, he moved to working on a fire engine in a remote protection area on the California border. This was the summer that his roommate, Steven Caleb Reno (who was also a firefighter with a private company) was tragically killed in a helicopter crash while assigned to the Iron 44 Complex Fire in Northern California. Nine other firefighters were killed in this accident.

Andrew continued this job with the Oregon Department of Forestry seasonally until he was twenty-eight years old; while also working odd jobs, construction, and fuels reduction jobs to make ends meet during the winter months.  In 2009 he achieved his EMT basic license. While working on a fire engine in the Greensprings, a town just outside of Ashland, in addition to their everyday duties, Andrew’s crew received specialized fire suppression training to work as a on-call helitak crew for the Soda Mountain Wilderness.

After leaving the Oregon Department of Forestry, Andrew started his own business as a general contractor doing residential remodels in the Portland metro-area. While running his own business, Andrew returned to college at Portland State University and obtained dual degrees in both Political and Social Science graduating magna cum laude. 

In 2019 at just thirty-two years old, Andrew was then diagnosed with urothelial cell sarcoma, a type of bladder cancer.  Andrew promptly underwent surgical treatment and is currently in remission. This experience is what inspired Andrew to want to solve the problems that he faced financially, personally, and otherwise for his fellow heroes of fire.