Columbia County is pleased to announce that Jeremy Wallen has been promoted to Fire Chief for Columbia County Fire Rescue. He has been serving as the Interim Fire Chief since the retirement of Doug Cooper on December 31, 2016.

Chief Wallen has been with the Columbia County Fire Department for 23 years previously serving in the capacity of Administration Chief. As Fire Chief, he will manage and lead the Fire Services Division of the county, which includes Fire Administration, Special Ops, Fire Training, and also Emergency Management and 3-1-1 for the interim. In his previous position, Chief Wallen, oversaw personnel management and budgeting for the Fire Services Division. Jeremy has also served as the Fire Department’s PIO (Public Information Officer) for the last ten years, and served on the Fire Services Transition Team. He has countless hours of continued training including areas pertaining to fire rescue such as hazardous materials, fire administration, fire leadership, GIS as it relates to fire, etc.

Chief Wallen has completed Chief Fire Officer Training by the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Augusta University and is a graduate of the Carl Vinson Institute’s Management Development Program from the University of Georgia. He is a Georgia State Certified Firefighter, Georgia Licensed EMT and Peace Officer.