Consolidation: Best Answer For Fire Protection?

Consolidation of emergency services is the coming thing. Ann Arbor Fire Chief Arthur L. Stauch thinks this is particularly true of fire departments around the country. "There are many reasons why consolidation simply has to come," the veteran iïre chief says. "And budget matters involves only one of those reasons." The idea of bringing all fire agencies in a given u 3&y 'm derne command is not nev. As long ago as 1935 officials in Contra Costa County, 30 miles east of San Francisco, Calif,, studied the possibility of incorporating all area fire departments into a single agency. That effort never fot beyond the study stage but by the mid-60's the area had grown so extensively that efficiënt, economical fire protection was not possible with the multiple agency operation then in effect. First one community in Contra Costa and then others agreed that consolidation was the only answer to fire problems. By 1970 six cities ranging in population f rom 2,000 to 100,000 were under a single fire command headed by Chief A. V. Streuli. "We do not say consolidation should be adopted everywhere, that it is the final answer for everyone," Chief Streuli points out. "Local íactors such as geography, tax base, assessed valuation, growth and existing service must be considered. But for Contra Costa County it has 1 worked well." I Contra Costa County encomI passes 155 square miles and I now has a population of 300,I 000. Twenty years ago its I population was 50,000. Other fire districts around I the nation have Consolidated I after years of fighting a losI ing battle against nearI prohibitive costs of equipment, Itangled Communications set■hps and training standards B Mch d i f f e r e d from one A qrtment to another Chief Stauch says one of the I strongest arguments for I solidation as he sees it is an I elimination of 'a vast ■ tion of general operation. "There's no such thing as I cut-rate fire equipment these I days," he says. "Every 1 munity has to pay anywhere I from $40,000 to over $100,000 I for new trucks. Under I solidaton an entire fire I department would not be I needed in every community." Stauch, who pioneered standardization of firefighter I training in southeast I igan, says training too would 1 be handled on a single basis in a Consolidated department. "There are many basic, j recommended steps in firefighting which experts in the field have agreed should be used by all firemen," Chief Stauch says. "But individual departments can vary a great deal on procedure used." Communication is another factor which would be improved w i t h consolidation, Stauch says..He_cites a recent instance of severe fire damI age occurring to a home in an eastern township because a telephone operator was una[ ble to lócate the number of I the area fire agency. I Under consolidation there ■ would be one central fire I number through w h i c h all I S calis would be directed. Water systems could also be I K centralized and an economy I M could be realized to all comB munities through that process, B Stauch says.. Proponents of consolidation K like William E. Clark, direcB tor of the Department of Fire B Protection for Prince GeorB ge's C o u n t y in Maryland, B point to the success of the opB eration in England. B Clark notes that prior to Bj World War II England had I over 1,500 separate municipal ■ 'fire departments. During the B war the fire services were naB tionalized and in the post-war Bj years the value of centralizaB tion was realized by many ofB ficials, Clark says. B As a result the various m - l-Il counties assumed the function of providing fire protection and today there are only 155 fire departments in England. In the United States the largest and best known consolidated ñre department is in Los Angeles County. It is the fourth largest department in the country. Other large county fire departments are found in Baltimore, Ann Arundel I and Prince George's counties in Maryland; Dade and I Jacksonville-Duval counties in I Florida; and Fairfax and 1 1 lington counties in Virginia. 1 Clark points out that when I I a village with 400 taxpayers I buys a ñre truck for $40,000, I the cost is on the average of I $100 per taxpayer. But when a1 I county with 40,000 taxpayers íeeds equipment it can buy A ree such trucks for only $3 A taxpayer.