Matthew Lindewirth serves as Bay County’s Chief of Emergency Services. Prior to joining Bay County, Chief Lindewirth held several senior leadership positions, including chief and deputy chief of counties in Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia. Chief Lindewirth has an extensive background in budgetary and fiscal management, human resources, training and policy development and execution.
Chief Lindewirth is a nationally certified paramedic with more than 28 years of prehospital experience, 26 of which have been as a paramedic. He successfully graduated from both the St. Charles County and St. Louis County fire academies and served as a paramedic/firefighter with two fire protection districts in Missouri and an EMS district. He also has served as a certified heavy rescue technician and public information officer for a metropolitan Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team. He is currently a graduate professor at Creighton University for the School of Nursing, Emergency Medical Services program.
Chief Lindewirth holds a Master of Science in EMS from Creighton University, a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Troy University, an Associates of Applied Science in Aviation Operations from the Community College of the Air Force, and an Associates of Applied Science in Paramedic Science from St. Louis Community College.
Chief Lindewirth came into the department with many new ideas and ways of doing things, some of which we needed as an organization. However, he has from the very beginning been difficult and sometimes abusive to carry out his wishes for the department. Chief Lindewirth has a mission first at any cost mind set, and sets parameters for personnel that are not sustainable, especially for our very over worked battalion chiefs who serve as both BC and EMS supply officer while running high equity calls all shift. He is a very intelligent and driven person. That being said, the way he conducts business is something that can’t go overlooked, and should be know to be an extremely toxic and hostile work environment. He has taken a department that was once the premier department in the area into something that is a shell of itself, consisting of personnel who are in fear every day and are afraid to make suggestions or better the department due to his reactions to personnel in the past.
By far the worse human being I’ve ever met in my entire life. This man has no respect for anyone e and is completely narcissistic! His peers refer to his demeanor as rude and disrespectful. He has knowledge in emergency medicine but has shown he is lacking in any real fire knowledge. He has left every department that he has been at worse than it was before. I have yet to meet one person in my area including chief’s that have any respect for this man. His unwillingness to treat his peers and subordinates with any type of dignity will be his ultimate demise. Upon meeting him one can quickly come to the conclusion that this man has lost all grip with reality, and has no clue how to interact with anyone. He seems intelligent until he speaks upon subjects he has no clue about. He then makes a fool of himself and will continue to do so until one loses interest with his childless arguments and walks away. Stay clear from Lindewirth if you value sanity!
Would’nt trust this guy to manage a mcdonalds, much less a fire department. Instead of letting guys work overtime or having an overtime policy in place, this idiot will just close multiple stations at a time for an entire shift. He did this yesterday 09/28/25…. And guess what happened in the area of one of the close ALS stations…. A 3 year old was hit by a vehicle…. With nobody to respond….. this loser needs to go.
The ONLY reason the rating is a 1 is because there is no option for -600.
Chief Lindewirth is by far the worst human. He has zero humanity, zero compassion, zero leadership abilities. If I had to compare him to a “leader” it would be Hitler. He is nothing more than a dictator with atrocious social/interpersonal skills.
He has successfully led his agency right into Auschwitz and tossed them into the gas chamber !
Of course his background looks good on paper, and any human could read his resume and be excited about the opportunity to work for someone well educated, with his experience…But boy did he fool everyone.
He’s a lier, a snake, a disgrace to Bay County, and as quick as he gets hired he has probably already retained an attorney to sue the agency. #1 in HORRIBLE leadership! Lead his people right into a mental health spiral, no backbone, no integrity, just a dictator who doesn’t give any craps about his people, only himself.
BCES might not have been in a good place when Chief Lindewirth became the new Chief but sadly it has not improved. He has proven himself to be anything other than a team player and has drained the department of good people while replacing them with anything that will take a job.
He has divided a county united by hurricane Michael and is confrontational with other area department chiefs and upper management, so much so that he is not respected by any of them. There was a real job that needs to be done with BCES but Chief Lindewirth is not the person to do it. Time for someone else to take the helm and calm the stormy waters in Bay County.
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5 Reviews on “Matthew Lindewirth”
Chief Lindewirth came into the department with many new ideas and ways of doing things, some of which we needed as an organization. However, he has from the very beginning been difficult and sometimes abusive to carry out his wishes for the department. Chief Lindewirth has a mission first at any cost mind set, and sets parameters for personnel that are not sustainable, especially for our very over worked battalion chiefs who serve as both BC and EMS supply officer while running high equity calls all shift. He is a very intelligent and driven person. That being said, the way he conducts business is something that can’t go overlooked, and should be know to be an extremely toxic and hostile work environment. He has taken a department that was once the premier department in the area into something that is a shell of itself, consisting of personnel who are in fear every day and are afraid to make suggestions or better the department due to his reactions to personnel in the past.
By far the worse human being I’ve ever met in my entire life. This man has no respect for anyone e and is completely narcissistic! His peers refer to his demeanor as rude and disrespectful. He has knowledge in emergency medicine but has shown he is lacking in any real fire knowledge. He has left every department that he has been at worse than it was before. I have yet to meet one person in my area including chief’s that have any respect for this man. His unwillingness to treat his peers and subordinates with any type of dignity will be his ultimate demise. Upon meeting him one can quickly come to the conclusion that this man has lost all grip with reality, and has no clue how to interact with anyone. He seems intelligent until he speaks upon subjects he has no clue about. He then makes a fool of himself and will continue to do so until one loses interest with his childless arguments and walks away. Stay clear from Lindewirth if you value sanity!
Would’nt trust this guy to manage a mcdonalds, much less a fire department. Instead of letting guys work overtime or having an overtime policy in place, this idiot will just close multiple stations at a time for an entire shift. He did this yesterday 09/28/25…. And guess what happened in the area of one of the close ALS stations…. A 3 year old was hit by a vehicle…. With nobody to respond….. this loser needs to go.
The ONLY reason the rating is a 1 is because there is no option for -600.
Chief Lindewirth is by far the worst human. He has zero humanity, zero compassion, zero leadership abilities. If I had to compare him to a “leader” it would be Hitler. He is nothing more than a dictator with atrocious social/interpersonal skills.
He has successfully led his agency right into Auschwitz and tossed them into the gas chamber !
Of course his background looks good on paper, and any human could read his resume and be excited about the opportunity to work for someone well educated, with his experience…But boy did he fool everyone.
He’s a lier, a snake, a disgrace to Bay County, and as quick as he gets hired he has probably already retained an attorney to sue the agency. #1 in HORRIBLE leadership! Lead his people right into a mental health spiral, no backbone, no integrity, just a dictator who doesn’t give any craps about his people, only himself.
BCES might not have been in a good place when Chief Lindewirth became the new Chief but sadly it has not improved. He has proven himself to be anything other than a team player and has drained the department of good people while replacing them with anything that will take a job.
He has divided a county united by hurricane Michael and is confrontational with other area department chiefs and upper management, so much so that he is not respected by any of them. There was a real job that needs to be done with BCES but Chief Lindewirth is not the person to do it. Time for someone else to take the helm and calm the stormy waters in Bay County.