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For many years, the fire
protection systems of Eugene and
Springfield have cooperated under an
automatic aid agreement. This made
sense operationally considering the
proximity of the response areas.
In 2007, the relationship was formalized
under what is now called the 3-Battalion
System.
A battalion is a group of
suppression companies (in
Eugene-Springfield's case, five or six
companies). Eugene Fire & EMS has
the equivalent of two battalions while
Springfield Fire & Life Safety has one.
The combined cities, seen as a single
response area, are served by three
battalions.
The 3-Battlion System
disregards the geopolitical boundary
between the jurisdictions, instead
employing dispatch protocols ensuring
that the nearest appropriate response
resources are sent to the location of an
emergency, no matter whether they are
Eugene units, Springfield units, or a
combination.
By working together on
a routine basis, Eugene and Springfield
crews have developed familiarity with
each other's personnel, equipment, and
procedures. In fact, a common set
of Standard Operating Procedures, called
Metro SOPs, is in the process of being
written, which will further ensure
metro-wide procedural consistency.
Implemented at
practically no cost other than the
renumbering of some stations and
equipment, the 3-Battalion System has
paid dividends not only in direct
emergency response, but also in system
backup, as units from either
jurisdiction can be moved so as to
provide safe coverage metro-wide in the
event that many units are committed to a
major emergency at a single location. |
In 2009, the two
departments commissioned a study by the
emergency services consulting firm ESCI
of Portland. The consultants were
asked to study whether greater service
efficiency and/or taxpayer cost savings
could be realized through further
collaboration.
The consultants' report
can be reviewed
here (allow time for download).
The study concluded not only that
continued cooperation would be
advisable, but that in fact
circumstances were favorable for a
merger of the departments, which would
lead to significant (at least
six-figure) taxpayer savings per year.
These savings would be
realized by consolidating several
leadership positions where one or the
other department had -- or would soon
have -- a vacancy that could be left
unfilled in a merger scenario.
Those positions included the Chief of
Department, Fire Marshal, Operations
Chief, and Training Chief.
The initial steps in
functional consolidation are taking
place during the spring of 2010.
The Springfield Fire Marshal and some
Fire Prevention personnel will move to
Eugene's Fire Prevention office at the
Downtown Fire Station; Eugene's
ambulance billing staff will join
Springfield's at Springfield City Hall;
and Springfield training staff,
including the Training Chief, will move
to Eugene Fire headquarters at 2nd &
Chambers.
Springfield Fire &
Life Safety Chief Dennis Murphy has
announced his retirement effective July
1, 2010. Eugene Fire & EMS Chief
Randy Groves will assume command over
the consolidated department at that
time. Chief Groves will
participate as a member of both cities'
Executive Management Teams, and will
report to both City Managers. |
Ultimately, the ESCI
study recommends that fire suppression
and emergency medical response services
for Eugene and Springfield be provided
and funded independently of the cities,
through the formation of a special
taxing district, or annexation to an
existing one.
This is one possible long-term outcome.
Another possibility would be the
permanent establishment of an
intergovernmental agency structured
similarly to the Metropolitan Wastewater
Management Commission. Fire
services are provided in this fashion in
Livermore and Pleasanton, Calif.,
and elsewhere in the U.S.
Formation of an
intergovernmental agency could be
accomplished by action of the City
Councils and the Lane County Board of
Commissioners. It is also possible
that one or more abutting fire service
agencies could seek to be included.
Issues of funding equity would need to
be addressed.
District models for
providing fire and emergency medical
services have been highly successful in
Oregon (e.g.,
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue) and
other states, but their formation is
inevitably controversial as it entails a
departure from the general-purpose
government and related questions
regarding tax equity and accountability
to the public.
Formation of a new
taxing district, or annexation to an
existing one, would require an
affirmative vote of the taxpayers
affected. Although this is the
course recommended by the consultants,
and although the district model has been
successful elsewhere, it will be a
matter of years before the formal
question is put to voters, if at all.
For more information, or to voice your
opinion, call 541-682-7118 or e-mail firedept@ci.eugene.or.us. |
