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Rich Cowger

Fire Chief
Columbus Fire & Rescue
Columbus, Montana, United States

Chief Rich Cowger currently serves as the Fire Chief for the Columbus Rural Fire District # 3. Chief Cowger is the Chair of the Montana State Fire Chief’s Association, serves as an adjunct member of the International Association of Fire Chief’s Wildland Fire Policy Committee, is the Chair of the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section, and the State of Montana Wildland Committee. Chief Cowger was part of the Waldo Canyon review team sponsored by the IAFC, Forrest Service, NFPA and IBHS to look at why or why not homes burned in relation to mitigation projects during that event. Chief Cowger also currently serving as the Chair of the Northern Rockies Coordination Group, one of the few local government representatives to hold such a position within the nation.
Chief Cowger has been with the Columbus Rural Fire District for 31 years and has served as the Fire Chief for the past 23 years. Chief Cowger is red carded as a Division Supervisor, a Structure Protection Specialist, Liaison Officer, Incident Commander T3, Operations Section Chief T2, and an CIMT IC and serves with a Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team.
Chief Cowger has a wide range of experience in wildland urban interface fires as well as all hazards response and has written several articles for national publications in regards to the WUI and challenges it presents to communities as well as departments. Chief Cowger was presented with the John Buckman III Leadership Award by the IAFC/ VCOS in 2016 and has recently completed his Bachelors Degree for Fire and EMS Administration.

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