Four Fla. Cities Tinker with Fire Merger

March 18--The two agencies that run four northwest Broward fire departments have started experimenting with a possible merger by combining radio channels.

The first experiment -- conducted over a few hours last week -- went well, officials said, and more will be conducted soon.

Agency leaders in Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Margate and Parkland are considering merging into one regional unit if two things can be accomplished: lowering costs for taxpayers and improving service.

The Coral Springs fire department currently provides emergency services to Parkland. Margate's department contracts with Coconut Creek to provide fire and paramedic services. A merger could eliminate management jobs and separate training divisions.

Margate Fire Chief Tony Stravino said there's an agreement in place since 2008 in which the two departments help each other on request. But "there's an inherent delay in that," he said. The new plan being considered is a closest-unit response system, so whichever is closer responds to a call.

Last week, Stravino said, they conducted the "first test to see what potential problems" there might be by merging radio channels. "Combining the systems [enables us] to see the feasibility of combining those systems and if it would work -- if it would implode or cause one system too much radio traffic," he said.

The result: "No problems at all," Stravino said. "We tested for a few hours, we'll be doing a couple more. We want to make sure our concerns and Coral Springs' concerns are addressed, so we'll try three, four, five more times before we make recommendations to [city] managers. Hopefully, we'll get a bit busier day for both systems. You want to see it at the worst in a perfect world."

Officials in all four cities are expected to eventually approve a study by an independent firm to examine the logistics of combining fire-rescue operations.

Even if a merger doesn't ultimately happen, if the tests go well, Stravino said they are "still likely to recommend a closest-unit response anyway."

Copyright 2012 - Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.