Roseville Finds Shared Fire Service Allows for Better Response, Lower Cost

During a time of tight budgets, shared fire fighting services are helping Roseville and other cities contain costs.

That was the message Roseville Fire Chief Tim O'Neil had for the Roseville City Council Monday in a reporting on a meeting of the Ramsey County League of Local Governments (RCLLG) regarding shared fire services.

Roseville participates with several cities around Ramsey County that are committed to working together to provide fire and rescue services.

O'Neil said the initiative allows cities, Roseville included, to share equipment, personnel and ideas. This cooperative arrangement allows the fire departments around the county to focus on a collective inventory of equipment, he said.

Instead of every city buying its own very expensive rescue equipment, the fire chiefs can look at what capacity their neighboring cities have and what capacity they can build as a community.

"It's not a matter of we don't need a large ladder truck, cause you have a large ladder truck," said O'Neil, explaining the usefulness of the program. "We would have one ladder for quick rescue and be able to call for a second ladder if we needed it."

The area departments are focused on this concept, and have made decisions to move towards a joint force that can share and aid each other at will, O'Neill said. For example, he noted the organization has agreed to use the same self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) so that their gear is cross compatible. 

Standard equipment allows departments to consolidate training efforts as well, he said.

Many departments have auto-aid agreements, such as Roseville with Lake Johanna. Auto-aid allows the fire departments to respond to each other’s fires without having to be asked. As many departments, like Roseville, move from a larger volunteer model to a paid staffing model, auto-aid allows for necessary response to the largest fires. Roseville aims to do this for all area departments, not just those they have an auto-aid agreement with, O'Neill said.

"It's an excellent use of tax dollars." said Council member Tammy Pust.

Another valuable asset to the city department is the ability to share information. O’Neil spoke of how Lake Johanna, a neighboring fire department, had discovered that ambulance service can make a profit. As the department faces budget cuts, cost saving and revenue making ideas are key.