Beloit, Wis. – In Beloit, there is a proposal to explore possible consolidation of fire departments.
That proposal was unanimously approved by both communities in early February.
Now, both the city and town of Beloit are exploring consolidation options. Their goal is to better serve both communities moving forward.
“Both communities are important to us,” said Todd Farley, interim chief of the Beloit Fire Department. “There is no community that is more important than another community.”
Both the City of Beloit and the City of Beloit are home to their own fire departments.
However, both communities are now working on creating a plan to see if uniting the two departments would better serve both communities.
“I think with consolidation you can see cost efficiencies in delivering fire and EMS,” Farley said. “Providing these services is expensive, especially at the level that both departments are providing to both communities. Therefore, we are looking for every opportunity to be more efficient in our budget and the revenue we receive to provide these services.”
Farley and Town of Beloit Chief John Cohn are tasked with creating an action plan to see if combining forces is the best option.
They will present it to both the communities within 180 days.
(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)
The city of Beloit said its applicant pool has grown from hundreds to maybe a dozen. Cohn said it’s a staffing issue that is becoming more common in the fire service.
“There’s definitely some synergy in coming together as a department,” Cohn said. “Right now, the entire industry is suffering from recruitment and retention challenges. When you increase the size of your firefighter paramedic pool, there are more options.”
Both departments said that the cost of operation and maintenance of the department is increasing. Equipment and personnel costs may be an issue.
Call volume is also increasing in both communities, especially EMS calls.
(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)
“Both departments have been challenged coming into the meeting, particularly the volume of emergency medical services incidents that we have in both communities,” Farley said. “Right now, when you count both communities, we do about 10,000 calls per year. In EMS calls, it’s about 5,000 calls per year. That’s very high for a city of this size and a township of that size.”
Both chiefs said they will visit Nina-Menasha Fire Rescue in late February and talk to their departments about what merger looks like in their communities.
Nina-Menasha was one of the first departments to merge, 20 years ago.