Firesafe Montana

Keynote Speakers for Montana Communities and Wildfire Conferences.

Miles City:

• Randy Sanders

  Randy has worked in fire service since 1980. He started with the Savage Volunteer Fire Department and retired as Assistant Fire Chief. He has work for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation since 2003 as the Fire Program Manager, working with 11 counties in southeast Montana to coordinate large fire fighting activities, training, and prevention in the Eastern Land Office area.

• Rich Cowger

  Chief Cowger is the President of the Stillwater County Fire Council and sits on the Southern Land Office MOB Board, along with the State Wildland Committee, the first fulltime Fire Chief of the combined Town of Columbus and Rural Fire District.  Cowger was instrumental in bringing the town and rural fire districts together through inter-local agreements.

• Chris Pileski

  Chris Pileski graduate from the University of Montana’s Forestry School in 1994. He has since worked for Plum Creek Timber Co. and the DNRC. The past 15 years, he has managed forested state trust land in eastern Montana and assisted many Eastern Montana forest landowners with the management of their forest resources. Since 2009, Chris has been the Area Manager for DNRC Eastern Land Office.

• Scott Brady

  Scott attended MSU Bozeman and received a B.S. in Fish and Wildlife Management with a minor in Range Science in 2003. Scott began working for NRCS as a soil conservationist and then transferred to Miles City as a Rangeland Management Specialist in 2005. Scott’s work focuses on conservation planning on rangeland and stand improvement through EQUIP and CSP programs.

• Pat McKelvey

  Pat McKelvey is a lifelong resident of Helena, MT. Pat is the hazard mitigation project manager for Lewis & Clark County and the Tri-County FireSafe Working Group. He has a B.S. from MSU Range Management. Pat is the Jefferson County firewarden, a member of the Clancy Volunteer Fire Department, Keep Montana Green, Disaster and Emergency Services, and Public Information Officer. Pat is one of the founding members of FireSafe Montana.

• Don Lorenzen

  Don received a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and a B.S. in Computer Science from Illinois State University.  Don worked in the US Peace Corp 1977-1979 in Guatemala. He has worked for State Farm systems 1982-1992 in Bloomington Indiana & California. He has worked in State Farm Commercial Underwriting since 1992 till present in CA, OR and the past 16 years in the field serving North Dakota, Idaho and all of Montana. Don is the Secretary and Treasurer for FireSafe Montana.

Polson:

• Sarah McCaffery
  • Sarah M. McCaffrey, Ph.D. is a Research Social Scientist for the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.  Her research focuses on the social aspects of fire management.  This has included National Fire Plan and Joint Fire Science sponsored projects examining the characteristics of effective communication programs and the social acceptability of prescribed fire, thinning, and defensible space.  More recently she has begun work on the social issues that occur during fires including alternatives to evacuation and community-agency interactions during fires.  She received her PhD in Wildland Resource Science from the University of California at Berkeley where her research examined Incline Village, Nevada homeowner views and actions in relation to defensible space and fuels management. 

• Rick Trembath   
  • Rick Trembath has been fighting wildfires around the country for 45 years. He was also a structure firefighter for 35 years and was chief of Bigfork Fire & Ambulance in Bigfork, Montana. He owns Flathead Forestry & Fire Consulting and teaches WUI courses for the National Fire Academy.

• Tony Harwood 
  
  • Tony started his forestry/fire management career in 1970. In 1979 he was hired as a Bureau of Indian Affairs Timber Sales Officer and later served as the Salish & Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire Wildland Fuels Specialist from 1990 to 2001 and the Fire Program Manager from 2001-2007. Tony is currently the Division Manager for Forest Inventory and Planning for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Tony is very active in fire education and training activities and maintains suppression and prescribed fire qualifications as an Operations Section Chief (Type 2), Fire Behavior Analyst, and Type 1 Burn Boss. 
• Robert Mutch:
  • Retired from a 38-year career in forest fire research and fire management with the U.S. Forest Service in 1994.  Areas of special interest include forest fuel management, fire ecology, fire behavior prediction, wildland fire training, public and firefighter safety, wildland fire suppression, prescribed fire in wilderness management, and international assistance.  Since 1994 he has served as a fire management consultant with assignments in Brazil, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, India, and Mongolia for the United Nations and the World Bank.  Bob also is a founding member of FireSafe Montana and Painted Rocks FireSafe Council.
    

Columbus:

• Ed Smith:

  Ed is currently employed by the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and serves as the natural resource management specialist for western Nevada. Since 1988, much of his time has been spent addressing the issue of Nevadans living in high fire hazard areas. Twenty years ago, he helped establish the Neighbors for Defensible Space organization and created the Incline Village Defensible Space Program at Lake Tahoe. Currently, he is the coordinator of the Living With Fire Program, an interagency wildfire threat reduction education program for Nevada homeowners.

• Allyson Watson (Roach):  Wildfire Survivor and Motivational Speaker.  Her family's story is documented by FireSafe Montana's 1/3 Mile to Safety.

"My journey began on October 26th 2003. A horrible series of wildfires was ravaging San Diego County, and my family was trapped in the chaos of the Paradise fire. On that day, I lost everything; my home, my baby sister, and almost my own life; as I was burned 2nd and 3rd degree over 86% of my body. It was merely through the grace of God that I survived, and for months, I struggled to find meaning in my life."

• Robert Mutch:
  
  •  Retired from a 38-year career in forest fire research and fire management with the U.S. Forest Service in 1994.  Areas of special interest include forest fuel management, fire ecology, fire behavior prediction, wildland fire training, public and firefighter safety, wildland fire suppression, prescribed fire in wilderness management, and international assistance.  Since 1994 he has served as a fire management consultant with assignments in Brazil, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, India, and Mongolia for the United Nations and the World Bank.  Bob also is a founding member of FireSafe Montana and Painted Rocks FireSafe Council.

• Rich Cowger: 
  
  • Chief Cowger is the President of the Stillwater County Fire Council and sits on the Southern Land Office MOB Board, along with the State Wildland Committee.  He is also heavily involved with the Montana Mutual Aid system.  As of 2008, he became the first fulltime Fire Chief of the combined Town of Columbus and Rural Fire District.  Cowger was instrumental in bringing the town and rural fire districts together through inter-local agreements .
• Sonny Stiger:
  • Retired after 26 years with the U.S. Forest Service as a Fire and Fuels Management Specialist, followed by ten years with Montana Prescribed Fire Services in the same capacity– Taught courses and lectured on fire and fuel management regionally, nationally, and internationally and authored articles for Fire Management Notes, Fire Management Today, and Montana Outdoors.  He also co-authored a paper for the 11^th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology.

 * More Speaker Biographies to Come!