Fire Chief William Hyde has served in the fire service for over 30 years, with a career dedicated to advancing operational standards, professional development, and public safety. He began his career as a firefighter and steadily progressed through the ranks, gaining extensive experience in fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, and incident command before moving into administrative leadership roles.
Chief Hyde holds multiple advanced certifications, including Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Designation and completion of the Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Program through the National Fire Academy. He has also completed coursework in Fire Service Executive Leadership, Emergency Management Planning, and Incident Safety Officer Development. His educational background includes a degree in Fire Science and advanced leadership coursework through the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
As Fire Chief of the Rogers Fire Department, he is responsible for strategic planning, personnel management, budgeting, and maintaining compliance with nationally recognized fire service standards. Under his leadership, Rogers Fire Department maintains an ISO Class 1 rating and continues to expand its capabilities in special operations, training, and community risk reduction.
Chief Hyde’s leadership philosophy emphasizes accountability, preparedness, progressive training, and the development of highly capable fire service professionals. His tenure is marked by modernization efforts, a focus on firefighter wellness and fitness, and the implementation of data-driven operational strategies to better serve the community.
In my experience, the chief has not demonstrated effective leadership within the department. He is often unavailable during scheduled work hours, which has impacted team coordination and morale. Additionally, there are concerns among staff about behaviors that appear to affect his reliability and decision-making. These issues have contributed to a lack of confidence in his ability to lead the department effectively.
Chief Hyde has shown complete lack of leadership and responsibility. When taking the job as chief his vision for the department was “I have no vision.” Chief Hyde has repeatedly not shown up for meetings, such as strategic planning. City has protected his poor performance and unethical behavior by threatening deputy chief’s job if they spoke up against him. He has stated he will not ask for a raise for his firefighter though all the surrounding departments pay is going up. He has retaliated against department member that have gone against him. Morale is at an all time low, in which he passes the blame on others. Repeatedly states “I don’t know” when asked pressing questions. Several member are trying to find ways to leave or retire early to get away from this poor leadership. There are several other incidents and complaints. It would be safe to say that all members of the department would like to see him leave.
Chief Hyde has been nothing but inadequate for the department. In my experience he’s taken a once progressive department and top in the state to a stepping stone for other departments. It’s to the point where I can truthfully say not a single fireman within the department backs him or has any faith in his leadership skills. He’s created unnecessary positions to make the chain of command longer making it near impossible to get real concerns addressed. All so he can focus on the future of the department and have someone else doing his day to day job. He’s retaliated against deputy chiefs for being a “firefighters chief” virtually creating a sit down and shut up environment. This in turn has made the department morale at an all time low from top to bottom. After talking with people from the department he left it’s more than clear why he was pushed out. When getting faced with real concerns within the department his standardized response is “i dont know” or even storms out. He says the department is transparent and he says staffing is not an issue all while lying and pushing any solid firemen to other departments. He virtually has zero public speaking skills making it more than obvious he’s not confident even stating “I’m not good at these types of things.” He started the chief position with removing all lights and radios from his command vehicle till getting in trouble by other agencies while on duty. He refuses to push for his guys to make adequate pay to neighboring department even with the city falling within the second highest housing market value increase since 2019 in the entire country! Calling a 2.8% cost of living bonus adequate when since 2019 the housing market has went up 84.5%. In my opinion even a 1 star in all categories is overrated.
There are consistent concerns regarding the Chief’s ability to demonstrate effective leadership within the department. His engagement with captains, station leadership, and shift commanders has been limited, resulting in a persistent lack of direction. The absence of clear leadership has created operational uncertainty and left many officers unsure of expectations or priorities. He is known as the “Visionless Chief”.
Additionally, the Chief has shown minimal involvement on or around emergency scenes. His limited visibility and lack of operational presence have raised concerns about his ability to provide meaningful command support when needed.
2. Communication and Responsiveness
The Chief has regularly been unresponsive to questions, requests for clarification, and operational concerns raised by captains and command staff. This lack of communication has slowed decision-making and led to unnecessary confusion at multiple levels of the organization.
Important meetings have been missed without adequate communication or follow-through, leaving key topics unresolved and delaying progress on essential department initiatives.
3. Engagement With Duties of Office
There is a recurring pattern of the Chief not actively engaging in the core responsibilities expected of his position. Strategic leadership, oversight of departmental operations, and direct involvement in personnel development have not been consistently present. This disengagement has contributed to a widening gap between the department’s needs and the Chief’s actions.
4. Decision-Making Priorities
Many decisions appear driven primarily by political considerations and maintaining favorable external optics rather than addressing internal operational needs. This has created the perception that the Chief’s focus is centered on budget impressions and mayoral approval rather than supporting the department’s members and mission.
5. Departmental Impact
These concerns have had measurable consequences:
Morale among captains and crews has declined.
Personnel feel unsupported and disconnected from command-level leadership.
Operational consistency has suffered due to lack of engagement and communication.
Confidence in the Chief’s ability to lead during routine and emergent situations has been significantly reduced.
Summary
While every leader faces challenges, the issues outlined above reflect serious and sustained concerns regarding Fire Chief Hyde’s leadership effectiveness, engagement, and support of departmental operations. These concerns warrant attention, structured review, and corrective action to ensure the Rogers Fire Department receives the leadership and direction required to operate at its highest standard.
Fire Chief Hyde has a multitude of downfalls and shortcomings as a chief officer at any level. He has zero business occupying the office of the fire chief. He has consistently shown a lack of interest in his duties to those in his department, from the probationary rank all the way to his own command staff. He is constantly deflecting on tough questions, seemingly hoping for department members to forget the issues at hand and move on. In one of his first city wide meetings with the department, he admitted that he had “no vision” for where he wanted to take the department during his tenure as fire chief. And now closing in on two years into that tenure, he has proven to stick by that visionless approach. Members are regularly confused and uncertain concerning what decisions are being made and the reasoning behind them. His own attendance record is laughable, regularly missing meetings with his own command staff, although he would not have much if anything to contribute if he attended. He has shown a lack of fight for the line personnel, maintaining that he will not fight for raises, regardless of raises in surrounding area departments and the ever growing cost of living. He seems content with making the mayor happy and serving him rather than serving those that he has been tasked with leading.
Chief Hyde’s lack of care and competency only stand to hurt the city that so many strive to serve so well. His lack of interest and ability have manifested incredibly poor morale throughout the department. The citizens deserve a fire chief that serves those that serve them, not one that expects to be served and serves those elected officials. Chief Hyde is not capable of making even a mediocre fire chief, and the sooner he vacates that office, the sooner his department will begin to mend.
Fire Chief William “BJ” Hyde has served in his position for the last two years, and in that time has garnered a reputation of being both incapable and unwilling to fulfill his duties.
The primary responsibility of the Fire Chief is to look out for and support those who work under their command. Chief Hyde has made several decisions during his tenure that seem to deliberately contradict this notion. Pay has been a sticking point for quite some time, but Chief Hyde has explicitly stated that raises will not be happening under his administration, leaving the firefighters struggling to make ends meet in an area where the cost of living has been and continues to increase by leaps and bounds. Of the major departments in the area, RFD’s pay scale is by far the most laughable, and yet the lowest CoL adjustments in the department’s modern era have been under Chief Hyde’s regime.
The work required for bonds, grants, and accreditations fall to the wayside leaving subordinates to pick up the slack in order to hold the department together. To make matters worse, multiple new positions have been created in the command structure in order to further isolate him from the backlash of these decisions.
Morale is at an all time low. Personnel now come into work expecting to be exasperated by news from the top. Tenured members who bring invaluable decades of experience are counting the minutes until retirement eligibility while younger members who bring energy and promise of the department’s future are looking to greener pastures right next door.
The RFD is currently fortunate enough to have a relatively well kept fleet. The same will not be said a few years down the line. With current lead times on new apparatus, it’s more imperative than ever that an apparatus replacement plan be addressed ahead of time so that services to a growing city does not suffer. If these steps are being taken, it certainly isn’t being communicated.
Chief Hyde has presented himself as a sycophant, concerned only with pleasing the Mayor and his drinking buddies. If the department were to hold a vote of no confidence against him, there is no doubt that it would yield an overwhelmingly one-sided result.
Rating Breakdown
1/5
1/5
1/5
1/5
6 Reviews on “William Hyde”
In my experience, the chief has not demonstrated effective leadership within the department. He is often unavailable during scheduled work hours, which has impacted team coordination and morale. Additionally, there are concerns among staff about behaviors that appear to affect his reliability and decision-making. These issues have contributed to a lack of confidence in his ability to lead the department effectively.
Chief Hyde has shown complete lack of leadership and responsibility. When taking the job as chief his vision for the department was “I have no vision.” Chief Hyde has repeatedly not shown up for meetings, such as strategic planning. City has protected his poor performance and unethical behavior by threatening deputy chief’s job if they spoke up against him. He has stated he will not ask for a raise for his firefighter though all the surrounding departments pay is going up. He has retaliated against department member that have gone against him. Morale is at an all time low, in which he passes the blame on others. Repeatedly states “I don’t know” when asked pressing questions. Several member are trying to find ways to leave or retire early to get away from this poor leadership. There are several other incidents and complaints. It would be safe to say that all members of the department would like to see him leave.
Chief Hyde has been nothing but inadequate for the department. In my experience he’s taken a once progressive department and top in the state to a stepping stone for other departments. It’s to the point where I can truthfully say not a single fireman within the department backs him or has any faith in his leadership skills. He’s created unnecessary positions to make the chain of command longer making it near impossible to get real concerns addressed. All so he can focus on the future of the department and have someone else doing his day to day job. He’s retaliated against deputy chiefs for being a “firefighters chief” virtually creating a sit down and shut up environment. This in turn has made the department morale at an all time low from top to bottom. After talking with people from the department he left it’s more than clear why he was pushed out. When getting faced with real concerns within the department his standardized response is “i dont know” or even storms out. He says the department is transparent and he says staffing is not an issue all while lying and pushing any solid firemen to other departments. He virtually has zero public speaking skills making it more than obvious he’s not confident even stating “I’m not good at these types of things.” He started the chief position with removing all lights and radios from his command vehicle till getting in trouble by other agencies while on duty. He refuses to push for his guys to make adequate pay to neighboring department even with the city falling within the second highest housing market value increase since 2019 in the entire country! Calling a 2.8% cost of living bonus adequate when since 2019 the housing market has went up 84.5%. In my opinion even a 1 star in all categories is overrated.
1. Leadership and Command Presence
There are consistent concerns regarding the Chief’s ability to demonstrate effective leadership within the department. His engagement with captains, station leadership, and shift commanders has been limited, resulting in a persistent lack of direction. The absence of clear leadership has created operational uncertainty and left many officers unsure of expectations or priorities. He is known as the “Visionless Chief”.
Additionally, the Chief has shown minimal involvement on or around emergency scenes. His limited visibility and lack of operational presence have raised concerns about his ability to provide meaningful command support when needed.
2. Communication and Responsiveness
The Chief has regularly been unresponsive to questions, requests for clarification, and operational concerns raised by captains and command staff. This lack of communication has slowed decision-making and led to unnecessary confusion at multiple levels of the organization.
Important meetings have been missed without adequate communication or follow-through, leaving key topics unresolved and delaying progress on essential department initiatives.
3. Engagement With Duties of Office
There is a recurring pattern of the Chief not actively engaging in the core responsibilities expected of his position. Strategic leadership, oversight of departmental operations, and direct involvement in personnel development have not been consistently present. This disengagement has contributed to a widening gap between the department’s needs and the Chief’s actions.
4. Decision-Making Priorities
Many decisions appear driven primarily by political considerations and maintaining favorable external optics rather than addressing internal operational needs. This has created the perception that the Chief’s focus is centered on budget impressions and mayoral approval rather than supporting the department’s members and mission.
5. Departmental Impact
These concerns have had measurable consequences:
Morale among captains and crews has declined.
Personnel feel unsupported and disconnected from command-level leadership.
Operational consistency has suffered due to lack of engagement and communication.
Confidence in the Chief’s ability to lead during routine and emergent situations has been significantly reduced.
Summary
While every leader faces challenges, the issues outlined above reflect serious and sustained concerns regarding Fire Chief Hyde’s leadership effectiveness, engagement, and support of departmental operations. These concerns warrant attention, structured review, and corrective action to ensure the Rogers Fire Department receives the leadership and direction required to operate at its highest standard.
From a Current Employee of the Department
Fire Chief Hyde has a multitude of downfalls and shortcomings as a chief officer at any level. He has zero business occupying the office of the fire chief. He has consistently shown a lack of interest in his duties to those in his department, from the probationary rank all the way to his own command staff. He is constantly deflecting on tough questions, seemingly hoping for department members to forget the issues at hand and move on. In one of his first city wide meetings with the department, he admitted that he had “no vision” for where he wanted to take the department during his tenure as fire chief. And now closing in on two years into that tenure, he has proven to stick by that visionless approach. Members are regularly confused and uncertain concerning what decisions are being made and the reasoning behind them. His own attendance record is laughable, regularly missing meetings with his own command staff, although he would not have much if anything to contribute if he attended. He has shown a lack of fight for the line personnel, maintaining that he will not fight for raises, regardless of raises in surrounding area departments and the ever growing cost of living. He seems content with making the mayor happy and serving him rather than serving those that he has been tasked with leading.
Chief Hyde’s lack of care and competency only stand to hurt the city that so many strive to serve so well. His lack of interest and ability have manifested incredibly poor morale throughout the department. The citizens deserve a fire chief that serves those that serve them, not one that expects to be served and serves those elected officials. Chief Hyde is not capable of making even a mediocre fire chief, and the sooner he vacates that office, the sooner his department will begin to mend.
Fire Chief William “BJ” Hyde has served in his position for the last two years, and in that time has garnered a reputation of being both incapable and unwilling to fulfill his duties.
The primary responsibility of the Fire Chief is to look out for and support those who work under their command. Chief Hyde has made several decisions during his tenure that seem to deliberately contradict this notion. Pay has been a sticking point for quite some time, but Chief Hyde has explicitly stated that raises will not be happening under his administration, leaving the firefighters struggling to make ends meet in an area where the cost of living has been and continues to increase by leaps and bounds. Of the major departments in the area, RFD’s pay scale is by far the most laughable, and yet the lowest CoL adjustments in the department’s modern era have been under Chief Hyde’s regime.
The work required for bonds, grants, and accreditations fall to the wayside leaving subordinates to pick up the slack in order to hold the department together. To make matters worse, multiple new positions have been created in the command structure in order to further isolate him from the backlash of these decisions.
Morale is at an all time low. Personnel now come into work expecting to be exasperated by news from the top. Tenured members who bring invaluable decades of experience are counting the minutes until retirement eligibility while younger members who bring energy and promise of the department’s future are looking to greener pastures right next door.
The RFD is currently fortunate enough to have a relatively well kept fleet. The same will not be said a few years down the line. With current lead times on new apparatus, it’s more imperative than ever that an apparatus replacement plan be addressed ahead of time so that services to a growing city does not suffer. If these steps are being taken, it certainly isn’t being communicated.
Chief Hyde has presented himself as a sycophant, concerned only with pleasing the Mayor and his drinking buddies. If the department were to hold a vote of no confidence against him, there is no doubt that it would yield an overwhelmingly one-sided result.