Newsmakers, June 28, 2018

Officials in La Crosse have started a new push to consolidate fire departments in the region, but not everyone is convinced, with some in surrounding communities worrying about a loss of independence.

Agencies in La Crosse County have had on-and-off discussions about the idea over the last 20 years. But La Crosse Fire Chief Ken Gilliam said several fires near municipal borders have recently highlighted the lack of coordination.

“We’re on different (radio) frequencies in some cases. We’ve got different training and education standards, so depending on which block you’re living on, you’re getting a different level of trained firefighter or EMT or paramedic showing up,” Gilliam said.

He said creating a regional agency would prevent redundancies in equipment and staffing, saving money for communities while creating a more streamlined response.

But Town of Campbell Fire Chief Nate Melby said the county already has a regional response to emergencies through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System. Established in 2010, it outlines which agency should respond when a community needs extra help.

“At the time that those (MABAS plans) were made, La Crosse’s desire was to only share a certain number of equipment, and so a lot of departments put them at kind of the next level beyond a basic mutual aid response,” Melby said. “The thing that changed was their willingness and involvement and ability to participate in the system.”

Melby said his department and other agencies need to update their response plans to reflect the current relationships between communities. But he said the system itself isn’t broken.

Having a local department is important to maintaining Campbell’s identity as a separate town, Melby said.

“Protecting life and property is our highest calling, that’s what we all get into this business for. But it would be a mistake for me to say that the independence of our community is not a factor at all in the decisions we make around providing our services. That’s been a long-standing part of the Town of Campbell,” Melby said.

John Kovari, associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, said it’s a common dilemma faced by local leaders.

“People vote with their feet, so these local communities are competing with one another and there’s efficiencies that are created because of that,” Kovari said.

He says many communities are looking to share costs because of tight budgets. Wisconsin links how much municipalities can raise property taxes to new construction.

“That puts some pretty serious handcuffs on a community especially if there isn’t new construction especially like in La Crosse where its landlocked (by surrounding communities),” Kovari said.

He points to the North Shore Fire Department near Milwaukee as an example of how consolidation can reduce costs. Established in the early 1990’s after a major fire, Kovari said the shared department has saved an estimated $3.5 million over the last 20 years.

But unlike the North Shore area, Kovari said there are significant differences in population size between La Crosse area communities. That could be an added challenge in deciding how to split costs and control of a shared department.

– Hope Kirwan