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Some chiefs think consolidation is answer to fire departments' woes

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Randy Lochner, assistant chief in charge of training at the Edgerton Fire Department, points out the aspects of a competency training course to firefighters.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Edgerton firefighters run a firetruck through a competency course during a training session.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Edgerton Firefighter Luke Thur reflects in the rear view mirrors of a firetruck as he backs it out of an obstacle on a competency course during a training session.

In his five years as Beloit Fire Chief, Brad Liggett already has been involved in two fruitless discussions about consolidation.

But Liggett still believes it’s pointless to have three fire departments—city of Beloit, town of Beloit and town of Turtle—serving the same community.

“In a medium-size community such as Beloit, is there any way we should have three fire chiefs?” he asked. “Could it all be one fire district, and could we develop some budget efficiencies that way?”

Liggett’s questions can be—and have been—asked in all of Rock County, where 15 fire departments—10 actually based in Rock County—respond to fires and medical calls for a population of 160,000.

As municipalities struggle to find budget cuts and fire departments struggle to meet increasing demands, some Rock County fire chiefs believe it’s time to look at consolidating services, if not entire departments.

But consolidation in any form faces many hurdles, including opposition from some chiefs who believe it would increase taxes and decrease community control.

Increasing demands

Fire departments have more responsibilities than ever, from educating residents to specialty rescues, Liggett said. In the last 40 years, the Beloit department has seen a 300 percent increase for service calls, yet staffing has decreased, Liggett said.

The Beloit department feels the increase most acutely in emergency medical services, Liggett said. As healthcare costs go up, many residents rely on EMS for primary care, he said.

The increased demand has come with increasing requirements for firefighters, particularly volunteers. Several volunteer fire chiefs have said they struggle to find volunteers who can commit the time for training and who can be available for emergencies, particularly during the day.

Liggett believes a consolidated department in the city of Beloit, town of Beloit and town of Turtle would address both problems, he said. The three departments could pool resources and personnel to make sure ambulances and fire trucks respond quickly to emergencies at all times, he said.

For example, the professional officers in Beloit could be the first responders to calls in the towns of Beloit and Turtle, and volunteers would only have to respond for legitimate emergencies, not false alarms, he said.

A consolidated department could eliminate redundancies in administration and equipment, possibly leading to a cost savings, he said.

Increasing taxes?

But chiefs in Beloit and Turtle townships said consolidation would increase costs for their residents because town residents would have to take over some of the salary costs for the professional firefighters employed by the city.

“There’d be a considerable cost increase, I’m sure,” said Dennis Ahrens, town of Beloit fire chief.

Besides, both chiefs say their departments don’t have problems providing fast service. And if they need assistance, they rely on mutual aid from neighboring departments.

Consolidation would take away local control, said Tim Huffman, Turtle fire chief.

“We’re very happy with the department we have,” he said. “We’re very tight, close-knit people.”

Education needed

Jim Jensen, deputy chief of the Janesville Fire Department, studied the possibility of a countywide fire department in 2003 as part of an executive fire officer program.

He said the first thing officials would have to do before consolidating would be educating the residents. Many people don’t know enough about their local fire departments to decide if they want changes, he said.

For example, many of city officials he surveyed didn’t know if their departments offered paramedic service or have any idea about the average response times for their departments.

“If you’re considering a consolidation, first you have to sit down and educate everyone on what service is currently being provided in your local community,” Jensen said.

Consolidation efforts face all kinds of hurdles, Jensen said. Every fire department runs differently, so communities would have to agree on what kinds of services to offer and how to offer them.

Plus, politics could play a big factor, he said.

“Everybody wants that local autonomy,” he said. “They want to maintain their identity of a small-town community, so when you start talking about (consolidation), people feel threatened.”

Still, Jensen found that departments that did consolidate often had positive results.

“When you plan for delivery of emergency services, if you can plan regionally, rather than locally, it makes a lot more sense,” he said. “You can locate your services strategically, rather than a geographic area.”

Into the future

Janesville Fire Chief Larry Grorud believes consolidation could benefit residents. Discussion could start with the Janesville and Milton fire departments, he said.

“If nothing else, it could be a joint station that we occupy because of the cities getting so close together,” he said.

A recent professional study of the Milton Fire Department also recommended the departments discuss the possibility of a shared station. However, the report recommended against a full consolidation.

“Given the low per capita cost of the Milton Fire Department, there is little financial benefit to consolidating with Janesville at this time,” the report reads. “However, this would be a viable option should MFD no longer be able to operate as a volunteer department.”

The Janesville Gazette was not able to reach Milton Fire Chief Loren Lippincott for comment.

Ahrens, the town of Beloit fire chief, agreed consolidation could become more practical in the future if departments find it harder to recruit volunteers.

“If you’re having a problem getting paid-on-call (firefighters), absolutely that’s one way to look at it, consolidation of services through the area,” he said. “It’s not a problem that we have yet.

“I’m not a fortune-teller, so I can’t tell you what it’s going to be like 20 years from now.”

Clinton chief favors consolidating EMS

Clinton Fire Chief John Rindfleisch isn’t sure if he supports consolidated fire departments, but he would support consolidated emergency medical services.

Most EMS units fall under local fire departments, but they often have their own set of personnel, he said. Different departments offer different levels of service, from basic EMTs to paramedics, who can administer drugs to patients during transport.

Some departments have ambulances, while others rely on ambulances from other communities.

But EMS units have one thing in common: they’re all facing increasing responsibilities and budget pressures.

Rindfleisch thinks the Rock County should look at the possibility of a countywide EMS service to eliminate duplication and improve response.

“There’s a ton of issues to look at it, but as far as the overall question of would that be a good idea?” he asked. “I think that would be a good idea to look at it.”

Rindfleisch knows such a consolidation could be an uphill battle, but it might serve residents better, he said.

“Some departments are not going to want to give up their own little piece of the pie, but if we can just make a better pie, that’s a way to look at it,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of duplicate services going on that we can probably save on.”

Milwaukee County merger saved millions

Beloit Fire Chief Brad Liggett points to a fire department in Milwaukee County as an example of what he would like to do in southern Rock County.

In 1995, seven communities north of Milwaukee combined their departments to form the North Shore Fire Department.

“These communities decided they had all the same issues, (such as) sharing of equipment and redundant equipment,” said Dave Berousek, chief of the North Shore department. “You may have staff abundance in one place and a hole in another, and there was no mechanism to share that uniformly.”

The consolidation wasn’t easy, Berousek said. Every department was different, and the consolidated department had to decide on issues from how to fill out paperwork to where to put copy machines.

The hardest part was convincing community officials that consolidation was the best thing for the area, Berousek said. Once that was done, the new department just took things one day at a time.

Five of the seven communities already had professional departments. The two with volunteer departments saw their fire budgets increase, but overall, the area is saving money, Berousek said.

“The impetus here in the North Shore was to improve service, and consolidation was a means to improve service,” he said. “And oh, by the way, we saved millions of dollars.”