The Truth about “Public Safety”, Part 3:

We know the Iron Mountain city manager and council are in favor of public safety.......who is opposed to it besides the firefighters?

The International Association of Fire Chiefs -
“Consolidation disbands the company unit which is the basic operational unit of a fire department. The company is the element of the fire department which performs rescue, emergency medical and suppression operations at emergency incidents.
“No one has provided an acceptable alternative to teamwork. Consolidation schemes, no matter how they are phrased, tend to disrupt the team concept and stress individual action, except when a fire occurs. At such times, uncoordinated action usually results in inefficiency and chaos.
“Fire service managers represented by the IAFC have held these views for more than 100 years, and continue to oppose any attempts at consolidating fire and police departments.”

The Joint Council of National Fire Service Organizations, which includes:

International Association of Fire Fighters
International Association of Fire Chiefs
Fire Marshal’s Association of North America
International Association of Arson Investigators
International Fire Service Training Association
International Municipal Signal Association
International Society of Fire Service Instructors
National Association of Fire Science Administration
Metropolitan Committee of International Association of Fire Chiefs
International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters
National Fire Protection Association
National Volunteer Fire Council

“The provision of fire protection and criminal justice activity are complementary but often mutually exclusive services. The illusion of improved productivity or cost savings through amalgamation can be costly, wrenching and lethal to a community.
“Municipalities have found that consolidated departments are costly, provide a diminished quality of protection, have increased job dissatisfaction, make insufficient use of costly equipment, provide inadequate specialized training, have a diminished quality of emergency medical response, and have escalated exposure to potential disaster when competing demands of fire suppression and criminal patrol occur, such as during periods of civil disorder.”

The American Insurance Association:

“No community has yet developed a combined fire-police service which has provided a properly manned and adequately trained fire force.
“In progressive and well operated fire departments, personnel when not in attendance at fires or other emergencies, are actively engaged in building inspection activities for fire prevention or pre-fire planning, care of stations, equipment and apparatus, training at the drill ground, classroom work in stations, and other worthwhile efforts toward an improvement in efficiency.
“If the proper amount of fire training is given, then police work will likely be slighted.
“Readiness standards for fire personnel and apparatus generally cannot be met when personnel are performing police duties.”

The National Fire Protection Association:

“We are convinced that there is no advantage, either from the point of view of economy or efficiency, in combining police and fire department functions. It is our considered opinion that a community needs both good police service and good fire service and that the combination of the two results in poorer police service and poorer fire service.
It is our observation that when fire and police departments are combined the fire department suffers more than the police department and that the overall fire protection of the community is not at the proper level.”

The International Union of Police Associations:

“The consolidation of police and fire services is a false economy that will impair the operation of both these essential services.”