Missoula Mayor Appoints Lonnie Rash as New Fire Chief

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Mayor Andrea Davis announced on Tuesday that she has appointed Lonnie Rash as the new Missoula City Fire Chief, with the upcoming retirement of current Fire Chief Gordy Hughes.

I spoke with Rash following the announcement from his office in Spokane, who had words of high praise for outgoing Chief Hughes.

Lonnie Rash has Been Appointed as Missoula's New Fire Chief

“I've had the opportunity to meet with Chief Hughes a couple of times and talk to him,” began Rash. “He is certainly a legend at Missoula Fire and has been there a long time. As I’ve shared with him, it is my goal to make sure that people we recognize and honor the contributions that all of the past Missoula firefighters and fire chiefs had made, and there's certainly no question that I'm going to be looking to him for guidance, if he's willing to help me through that.”

Rash is coming back to Montana after heading up the fire department in Burlington, Washington.

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Rash Returns to His Montana Roots after Serving in Washington State

“I took a position as a fire chief out of Burlington, Washington, and then, being from Montana, my wife and I both said, we either want to go back to Montana or let's get back to the Spokane area,” he said. “I returned in 2013 to Spokane County, and most recently served as the fire chief for Spokane County Fire District 8.”

One of the reasons why Rash was attracted to Missoula is the community's commitment to fully fund the City Fire Department.

“The citizens have certainly recognized the importance of the fire department there by funding appropriately,” he said. “That really does hit some of the values that I have in terms of taking care of our firefighters, and they are doing a good job of that. I want to be part of that continuing forward.”

READ MORE: Missoula Fire Chief Will Retire After 32 Years of Service

Rash Said He is Excited to Lead the Missoula City Fire Department

Rash said he is excited about the opportunity to lead the Missoula City Fire Department, especially after a comprehensive EMS study that was recently released.

“The recent study, I'm sure you're familiar with that with ESCI (Emergency Services Consulting International), about when they were talking about the levy, about where station six would go to reduce the impacts and call volume to station four and station one,” he said. “That came in, and it's a little different location than what was maybe anticipated, so we’re really diving into the data with GPUs and through the city council, determining where the best location for that station is today.”

Chief Hughes will step down and retire officially on June 30.