Anthony Owens Biography

Assistant Chief Anthony Owens entered the fire service in October of 1989. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School Class of 1986. He began his career in The United States Air Force Reserves and retired in June of 2018. During his 28-year career in the Reserves he was station and various locations throughout the globe. During Desert Shield he was stationed at Dyess AFB and shortly afterwards Randolph AFB. He started working at Kelly AFB in June of 1999 and when Kelly closed, he was transferred to Lackland AFB. He has the distinct honor of being the last Kelly Firefighter to retire. During his 35 years of service, he attended several advance technical firefighting courses to include: Technical Rescue courses, Fire Instructor I-III, Fire Officer I-IV, Fire Inspector I and I, CPR, and EMT-B and an array of other advance courses offered by all of JBSA locations.

Assistant Chief Owens has held several positions in the fire service to include Firefighter, Driver Operator, Lead Firefighter, District Chief, and Assistant Chief of Health and Safety. Assistant Chief Owens holds various degrees to include an Associates in Fire Science from the Community College of the Air Force, Associates in Liberal Arts and Kinesiology from St. Phillips College, and a Bachelor’s of applied Science with a minor in Health Education from The University of Texas San Antonio, and enrolled in 2008 at the University of Texas in Austin. His favorite position he held was being the Assistant Chief of Health and Safety and spending time researching articles and methods to eliminate and bring an awareness of Cancer in the Fire Service. In February 2025, he attended an International Fire Service Cancer Symposium where he gained and brought back valuable insight still being utilized by the department today.

He has received many awards throughout his career to include Civilian of the quarter multiple times, 2 team awards, recognized as outstanding performer on a most recent Wing Inspection and coined by the 502 CEG Director. He has had the sole honor of representing his department by participating in Torch Athena in 2023, a national yearly women's initiative program within the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) of the U.S. Air Force. Its primary goal is to foster collaboration, camaraderie, and teamwork among Airmen and Guardians while addressing critical issues that impact their professional and personal lives. Assistant Chief Owens was the first and only officer to attend the Enhanced Unified Command Course at Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service.

Assistant Chief Owens best memories were the multitude emergencies he responded to. He was safety officer for the Duke Fire which destroyed over 40 structures and raged on for 3 days. He had an opportunity to do an interview alongside Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores with Univision a local Spanish station. He responded to over 10 mutual aid calls with surrounding departments. Assistant Chief Owens was instrumental in turning in over 85K of unused equipment and was named the “DRMO CZAR” by the installation fire chief. Chief Owens is married to his beautiful wife of 25 years and has 2 daughters Ayanna and Annayce who are his life. Chief Owens has been a member of Christian World Ministries for 25 years and serves as a member of their safety team. Chief Owens is honored to have served with so many brave men and women and will truly miss serving in the department.