Kansas City Fire Chief Smokey Dyer, who brought professionalism to the Fire Department but also presided over a bumpy ambulance service merger, announced Wednesday he's retiring.
Dyer, 64, said that after building up the department for more than a decade, it's the right time for him to leave.
"I think we have reached our high water mark," Dyer said, noting that Kansas City and many other cities are now dealing with major budget cuts to fire and police.
"Having the opportunity to lead the department where we have been on 12 years of improvements, I'm not interested in being the leader during any period of retraction."
Dyer's last day is July 30, and an interim chief will be named to take over July 31. City Manager Troy Schulte said he will conduct a national search and hopes to have Dyer's permanent replacement on board in a few months.
Dyer and several dozen other senior firefighters are taking advantage of a retirement incentive package designed to save the city in long-term payroll costs.
Schulte, who didn't always see eye to eye with Dyer, nevertheless praised his contributions to Kansas City.
"He has transformed the Fire Department," Schulte said. "He leaves the city and the Fire Department a lot better off than when he found it."
But critics said it's also time for new leadership at a time when the vast majority of calls to the Fire Department are for medical emergencies rather than for fire and rescue, which was Dyer's primary area of expertise.
"I think it's an opportune time because we need to look at a new model that de-emphasizes fire suppression and puts more emphasis on first response and ambulances," said Councilman Ed Ford.
Some observers said it's the end of an era for the Fire Department.
They said Dyer restored respect and credibility to a beleaguered department, where city management and the union had previously spent more time fighting each other than fighting fires. Dyer also brought reforms to a city known for big infernos with multiple fatalities, antiquated fire stations, inadequate equipment and a reputation for sexual harassment and discrimination against women.
"Smokey is, in my regard, one of the best chiefs in the fire service in the country," said Mike Cambiano, recently elected president of Kansas City's firefighters union, Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. "He's poured his heart and soul into this."
In his departure, Dyer follows Louie Wright, who retired late last year as Local 42's long-time president. Together, they forged a decade of peaceful labor/management relations that ended years of union strife. Under Dyer and Wright, the Fire Department grew dramatically in both budget and staffing, and firefighters routinely bargained for better wages and benefits than other city employees.
Dyer already had a national reputation as an innovative fire chief when he was hired to lead the Kansas City Fire Department in October 2000. He had spent 13 years as fire chief in Lee's Summit and had served for almost a decade on the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
As Kansas City fire chief, he helped persuade voters in August 2001 to approve a 1/4-cent fire safety sales tax for 15 years. That new money ushered in a period of tremendous growth and improvement.
The city renovated or replaced all but six of its 34 fire stations, hired 135 additional firefighters, developed special rescue crews and modernized its fleet and radios.
"The Fire Department has made tremendous strides under Chief Dyer in responding to hazmat incidents, dangerous rescue situations and in developing the expertise to respond to major disasters," said Councilman John Sharp, chairman of the council's public safety and emergency services committee.
Dyer also oversaw the city's compliance with a federal court order to put an end to disturbing incidents of sexual harassment and discrimination against women firefighters.
Ambulance worries
But the move in 2009 to merge Kansas City's private ambulance service, Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust, with the Fire Department created concerns about ambulance response times that continue today. Although Wright was the prime mover behind that merger, Dyer also supported it.
The council recently asked the city auditor to investigate those ambulance response times, saying accurate data are crucial to public safety.
"We traditionally, on the MAST board, had a Northlander on it, for the sole purpose of staying on top of response times," Ford said. "Smokey to this day does not believe response times are important."
Ford also worried about the recent defection of some experienced paramedics and said he's concerned some crews working 24-hour shifts are vulnerable to fatigue, which could adversely affect patient care.
Dyer argued the city's response times look worse than MAST's used to because MAST manipulated its data. Patient care has not been compromised, he said.
Dyer insisted the consolidation between MAST and the Fire Department has gone well and that he is leaving Kansas City with one of the top-tier urban fire/ambulance services in the country.
The ambulance consolidation was not the only difficult period in Dyer's tenure. Over the last six months, Dyer clashed with Schulte and the city council as the department faced significant budget cuts and possible layoffs for the first time in decades. Dyer warned those cuts could devastate his department.
Ultimately, the city was able to avoid massive layoffs when the union agreed to some wage concessions and the city obtained a federal grant to keep several fire stations open.
As Dyer signaled his distress during the budget negotiations, the City Council gave him an added reason to retire. It adopted an ordinance that made him eligible for retirement after 10 years of service instead of after 25. The sick leave incentive, which gives senior firefighters 100 percent of the value of their accumulated sick leave, was an added motivator.
Dyer said he will still remain quite busy as a consultant on fire investigations and litigation. He said the department will be in good hands, with a roster of highly trained and experienced deputy chiefs.
"I think the city would be hard-pressed to find candidates that could match the candidates we already have within the organization," he said.
Sharp and Ford said the city should look for a new chief with extensive ambulance experience.
"Since the huge majority of Fire Department calls deal with emergency medical situations, I think it is essential that Chief Dyer's replacement be well-versed in emergency medicine," Sharp said.
Cambiano said the new chief doesn't necessary have to be an ambulance expert, but he would like to see someone hired in management who can be a strong advocate for the emergency medical part of the organization.
Schulte said he's determined to seek out candidates who have extensive experience in both fire and ambulance services, "running a blended operation."
Copyright 2012 - The Kansas City Star, Mo.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
