Chief Joe Tjaden has been with the fire department for over 25 years, he is a retired Captain with the Rapid City Fire Department. He is also a member of the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team deploying to fires all over the US to provide operational support.
Asst. Chief Tim Kobes has been with the department for over 50 years. He was the Chief for many years at Rapid Valley Fire Department. He is retired from the Rapid City Fire Department, where he last served as the Operations Chief.
Chaplain Brent Woodard is the chaplain for the department. He is also the Pastor of the Bible Christian Church in Rapid Valley.
Capt. Levi Woodard has been with the department for over 10 years and serves as the Quartermaster, overseeing department equipment and supplies. Outside of the department, he is an engineer for a global cloud, CDN, and security company.
Firefighter \ EMT Caleb Dustman is the firefighter representative for the department, he’s the liaison between the general firefighter membership and the officer cadre. Outside the fire department, he owns and operates Dustman Ranch LLP outside of Caputa. Caleb believes passionately in providing the highest quality fire, rescue, and EMS services available to those we serve.
Lt. Isaac Utterback has been with the department since 2022 and serves as a Quartermaster, managing department equipment and supplies. Outside of the department, he works for Northern Truck & Equipment as a diesel technician, welder, and equipment installer.
Capt. Jacob McIntyre is our personnel captain. He is responsible for onboarding new members and the administrative handling of records. He also works for South Dakota Wildland Fire as a wildland firefighter
Lt. Jenifer Truax has been with the department for 5 years. She currently serves as the department treasurer. She also works for the City of Rapid City Fire Department as an Executive Coordinator managing day to day admistration.
Capt. Jim Bussell oversees the training program, looking for new training opportunities and classes to present to the department. He has over 20 years of experience in the fire service and brings a wealth of knowledge to the department as an instructor and mentor to the firefighters.
