Consolidation Successes

[cescar71]

We are in the process of consolidating four fire districts into one fire district. Ultimately we will have a larger department with more career opportunities and some significant money savings.

I am curious to hear from other departments that have gone through a consolidation and what the outcome was after the consolidation, good or bad.

Thanks for your help .

[247pas]

There have been many successful consolidations in Florida. My dept. Orange Co. which consolidated 14 fire districts in 1981. The districts ranged from multi-station paid to single station volunteer. The dept. has made leaps and bounds to become one of the best. According to the old timers there were many growing pains for a while. Many were against it at first and fought hard to stop it. Today those same members say it was the best thing to happen. Other depts that I know of that have done the same are, Palm Beach Co., FL, Miami-Dade, FL, Seminole Co., FL, and Jacksonville which was a city/county merger where the city annexed the whole county and took over all resposibilities and they are a #1 dept. today. I know there are many others. I found these to be very interesting.
http://www.orangecountyfl.net/cms/CSSC/documents.htm

[SFDredhat126]

Many consolidations have taken place in St. Louis County since the 80's or so. This page will link you to most of their websites, where you can find more info.

http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/fire_districts/

They even have consolidated all of the unions from the area into one giant local with over 1700 members. Here is that website:

http://www.iaff2665.org/