Dane, Rock and Jefferson counties voted this past Wednesday to combine their fire protection forces to provide greater and more efficient services across a larger portion of the state. The vote to combine forces came mainly as a result of staffing crises and financial struggles within local fire departments across the state.
A Wisconsin Policy Forum 2021 report documented that fire departments across Wisconsin were struggling to support the high volume of calls being received. Wisconsin fire protection departments have had multiple issues regarding the recruitment and maintenance of volunteer firefighters — a problem that is significant considering 78.9% of fire departments in Wisconsin are completely volunteer-based.
To add to the struggle of finding volunteers to staff local operations, Edgerton Fire Chief Randall Pickering reported that surrounding departments in the Dane, Rock and Jefferson area were competing with one another for both volunteers and skilled employees.
The combined regional fire force will cover over 200 square miles and 25,000 residents, a significant increase from each individual force’s coverage. With this combination of forces and resources, there is hope that the force will be more efficient, effective and financially stable.
The financial support this merger will provide was another major reason for the combination of forces. Many fire departments were facing tough financial situations as a result of rising wages and an increase in the cost of fire protection services.
This decision is beneficial for Wisconsin’s residents as it provides better fire protection resources for typically underserved communities across the state. In particular, Milton and Edgerton previously struggled with staffing their individual fire departments. By combining the stronger Dane, Rock and Jefferson fire departments into one unified force, it allows these smaller communities to receive just as much fire protection support as surrounding Madison suburbs.
Another reason that this decision can be beneficial to Wisconsin is the camaraderie between Wisconsin communities. The union of three counties to form one large public service together is an incredible feat and ties those counties together in a special way. The threat of fire affects people across the state equally, so it makes sense that such a necessary public service should be adequately provided to each and every community in Wisconsin.
This merger could be the first of many mergers between fire protection departments across the state. Northern and rural communities could uniquely benefit from such mergers as these communities tend to have dispersed populations, struggle with the recruitment of fire department volunteers and may be financially unstable. Having a larger and more organized regional fire protection department could be incredibly beneficial for these communities.
Although the combination of fire protection forces between Dane, Rock and Jefferson counties will not occur until February 2023, the vote itself is taking a step in the right direction for equitable fire protection services. In the months leading up to February, the three counties plan to construct new facilities and ensure this merger will have long-term success.
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Despite the fact that this project will take many months, possibly years, to be fully realized, the merger of fire protection forces between these three counties is a significant step in improving public services across the state of Wisconsin.
Emily Otten ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism.
