County-wide Fire Departments
Here is an article about the county around San Diego consolidating their fire departments into one county-wide fire department (from the San Diego Union-Tribune).
Lurking in the background is the issue of consolidating the region's firefighters. A fragmented command scattered among 65 fire agencies – 35 of them in the unincorporated portions of the county – was pointed out in later critiques as a major weakness during the Cedar fire.The county, pushed by Jacob, is looking for ways to combine many of those smaller rural fire departments into a unified entity. A county report due in December is supposed to identify options for doing that, and spell out what each would cost.
The idea faces possible opposition from fire agencies in the more affluent unincorporated communities, where consolidation is viewed as a way to get rich communities to pay for fire protection in poorer ones.
I had a discussion just yesterday about this very subject about a county in South Dakota.
There are some definite advantages to this approach. Equipment can be optimized to serve the entire county. Fire protection across the entire county would probably improve. The fire departments would work together better at large incidents. There are some disadvantages too. Individual fire departments would lose some local control. Paid personnel would be needed to lead a large, county-wide organization. Funding could be a problem.
Are county-wide fire departments becoming more prevalent? If you've heard anything on this, I'd appreciate it if you would drop me a line.
