The fire chief position is established within the City Charter for the purpose of providing the administration and management functions of the Fire Department. The city manager appoints the fire chief and there are three assistants to the fire chief position designed to assist with the administration of the Fire Department.

The fire chief is the highest uniformed position within the Fire Department and is responsible for the delivery of services to the community. There are seven deputy chiefs who each command a bureau and report directly to the fire chief.

Currently, Chief Richard “Smokey” Dyer serves as the fire chief.

Chief Dyer has been a fire fighter since 1965. He holds a AS degree in Fire Science from Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, a BS in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MS degree in Public Service Administration from the University of Central Missouri. He is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program of the National Fire Academy. He has also received the Chief Fire Officer Designation from the CFOD Commission.

He was a U.S. Naval Officer and served in the Vietnam War.

For nine years, Chief Dyer served on the Board of Directors for the 12,000-member International Association of Fire Chiefs. During 1998-1999 he was president of that association.  He has served as an assistant professor of Fire Science at the University of Central Missouri, an adjunct instructor for the National Fire Academy and as an associate instructor for the Fire and Rescue Training Institute of the University of Missouri.

Chief Dyer represents the International Association of Fire Chiefs on the National Fire Protection Association Technical Committee on Fire and Explosion Investigations (NFPA 921). He is the chair of the Policy Committee of the Mid-America Regional Council Committee for Homeland Security. He serves on the United States Medal of Valor Board. Fire Chief Magazine named him the 2005 Career Fire Chief of the Year.

He has been married to his wife, Julie, since 1969. Their daughter, Deborah Karlstrand, is an early childhood specialist, their son-in-law, Brian Karlstrand, is a Corporal with the Gladstone Police Department and they have one grandchild, Katie Jane Karlstrand. Chief Dyer’s father, Arnold Dyer, a former volunteer Fire Chief is deceased and his mother, Charlotte Dyer, resides in Buckner where she was employed by Mid-Continent Library System for 50 years.