Andrew Starnes shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Andrew, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is a normal day like for you right now?
My schedule consists of 2-3 weeks of travel every month. I travel across the US and internationally on a regular basis. When I am traveling, my days start between 4:30-5:30 am. I get a cup of coffee, read my devotional, and then begin administrative work on the computer. I check in with my family at the beginning of the day and make sure they are ok. When staying in hotels, I strive to get quick workout prior to starting the day of training. We typically leave our hotel at 6:30 and arrive one hour before the start of the training. If I am working solo without the Insight Fire Cadre, I typically have much longer days due to increased workload and have to practice a working dinner on many nights where I take my laptop to the hotel restaurant and keep up with all of the administrative processes for our company. I typically end my day by talking with my wife prior to bed and the process begins again the next day. I spent over 273 days on the road in 2025.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Andy Starnes and my wife Sarah and daughter Emma are from North Carolina. I grew up in the fire service following in the footsteps of my father Joe Starnes. I became a career firefighter at age 22 with Charlotte Fire Department and lived the dream for 25 years before retiring at the rank of Battalion Chief in 2023. During that process, I became involved with a project started by my father and a dear friend Shawn Oke known as Kill the Flashover. This is where my thermal imaging journey truly began. I assisted in research burns for almost six years with this project when I was injured in 2015. I was almost disabled from this injury and thanks to my wife’s advice I founded Insight Fire Training to protect my family. It was then that I learned that the majority of individuals who work in thermography are required to have extensive training in this field but yet the fire service did not require it nor provided it. I began writing a curriculum based on industrial thermography concepts translated into experientially relevant examples for firefighters. It was then that I met Shawn Bloemker of Max Fire Box and developed a lifelong friendship and partnership that fueled my passion for fire behavior and thermal imaging. Since then, we have grown from myself and my wife, to a cadre of 21 members from across the US, Canada, Germany, and Australia. We have assisted in product development and developed the first collegiate thermal imaging certification for firefighters in partnership with Kentucky Thermal Institute and Western Kentucky University.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was a scrawny, non-athletic, clumsy kid in school who was often picked on and bullied up until about the eighth grade. Due to these issues, I began exercising, specifically working out to not let anyone take advantage of me again. This did not work out well in high school as I was seeking to get even. It was only after I committed my life to Christ that I realized how wrong I was. I had to forgive all those who had hurt me and move on or I was condemning myself to a lifetime of bitterness, rage, and cynicism. I was told may things about who I should be growing up but I truly didn’t know who I was even after achieving my dream job of becoming a firefighter. It was not until I met my wife Sarah in 2003 that I realized there was a greater purpose for me. God gave me a soulmate, a best friend, and we were blessed to have a beautiful daughter in 2009 who is now 16 years of age. My job did not provide me with my purpose, my physical goals did not provide me with lasting satisfaction, the pursuit of success only weakened my relationship in my faith. But through my faith and my family, I know that my true purpose is shine the light in the darkness. I founded a non-profit in 2023 to raise awareness and funds to support firefighter behavioral health programs and firefighters in need. Our company Insight Fire Training supports this mission and we aim to do more in the future.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering is often looked upon with indifference and questioning the reason why it occurs. I have suffered many things in my life but in 2010, 2015, and 2020 all taught me more than any successful moment could. In 2010, I suffered from behavioral health issues which caused great pain to my wife. I sought help and learned that I was not the only one. Through this suffering, I got involved in peer support and ultimately led to helping redevelop the behavioral health program for my fire department over the course of eight years. This also led to an intense habit of writing as therapy. I have written over 1,000 devotional entries and share them daily on our Facebook page encouraging others that they are not alone. This led to the development of our non-profit ministry Bringing Back Brotherhood. 2015 taught me that physical strength and health can be taken from you in an instant. I went from training for my third marathon to learning how to walk again with the possibility of ending my firefighting career. My wife carried me to the bathroom for eight weeks and I was out of work for 7 months. This lead to the founding of Insight Fire Training which trains approximately 10,000 firefighters each year and provides consultation to three of the top thermal imaging manufacturers in the world. In 2020, Covid hit and did something I did not expect beyond the health concern. It crushed my spirit and drive for the fire department. I hated coming to work. Everyone was upset about the pandemic. Not one day went by that someone did not come into my office angry about new policies, restrictions, or changes. I felt helpless as the department offered very little guidance other than constant memorandums and changes based on government recommendations. In 2021, I was still at work but I had mentally retired from the fire department. I felt a part of me had died. As a child, all I wanted was to earn my father’s respect by becoming a firefighter and that dream had become a nightmare. Work was no longer enjoyable and I began to count the days until retirement. And then, the epiphany hit. I realized that so many firefighters could not live without “the job.” I realized that I had placed the fire department above God, my family, and everything/everyone else. God used this broken moment to show me that my true identity was not in a badge or position but in Christ. I am a servant and will always be one no matter what uniform I wear. The burden on my heart matters far more than the badge pinned on my chest. I was set free and began to enjoy life, work, and all the many blessings around me in spite of the challenges.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version is what people see on social media and other outlets. What they do not see is a flawed individual who is often overwhelmed with the circumstances of life, being away from my family for extended amounts of time, two family members who are aging and in need of care, managing a growing business with a very small staff (myself, my wife, and our newly hired event coordinator Thomas Anderson, and social media manager Tim Mills). People only see the successes but don’t see the hours of work, frustration, and failures. They don’t know the crushing weight of responsibility but only want the gleaming lights of success. They don’t see the late nights, the early mornings, and the endless studies to stay not only current but to innovate! In short, people see what they want to see until they truly walk in your shoes. The true definition of compassion is to “suffer with.” Few people want to suffer. They only want the achievements. But they don’t realize the cost to get there. My family and I have adopted a policy of managing these moments to protect us from the harmful trappings of success. My wife and I meet and decide on all things together. And we agree on times when the phone is turned off, the emails have to wait, and my family is my focus. I don’t always do this well but with my wife by my side, I have the best support I have ever had. So when you look upon someone you view as successful, take a moment and realize what it took to get where they are. Our journey is 23 years together thus far and my most important goal for the future is the provision, protection, and leadership of my wife and daughter. I do not focus on making millions of dollars but on making memories with my family and making a difference in others lives that we are blessed to engage with.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
I understand that time is fleeting. I am 50 years old. I have less time on this earth in front of me than I have behind me. If I live to be the average age of mid 70’s that is not much time left. More importantly, my daughter is 16. We have 24 months before she turns 18. Theoretically, she could leave our home and venture out on her own (we don’t think that will happen but only God knows). My wife is six years older than me. I understand the value of work and building successful and lasting business ventures but these are not eternal nor are they the most precious gifts given to us. Time waits for no one. 86,400 seconds are given to each individual of every day. We cannot save one second but we can spend them wisely or we can waste our lives. I have realized the power in presence, the value in a simple moment, and that phone calls, visits, and hand-written messages to a hurting world can change the outcome of the future. To truly understand this best, you must lose something precious to you. I have lost many friendships, and had to attend many funerals of friends who never made it into their mid 30’s. I often feel that I have been given something that they should have also had. So I choose to look at each day as a gift not an obligation. I choose to look at every problem as an opportunity. I also realize the difference in all of this is how I choose to respond to all of these moments. It has taken me years to understand this. Not that I have achieved it but I practice this as an act of gratitude for I have been given an opportunity and I choose not to waste it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.insighttrainingllc.com
- Instagram: @insighttrainingllc
- Linkedin: Andy Starnes or Insight Training LLC
- Twitter: AndyStarnesFire@KTFBurnsDC or InsightTrainingLLC@InsightTrn
- Facebook: Insight Fire Training or Andrew Starnes
- Youtube: Insight Training LLC
Image Credits
Insight Fire Training, Alamo Area Photography
