By Count Friedrich von Olsen
Word comes that Upland and Montclair are extending the conflation of their respective fire departments’ administrative and command staffs another two years…
North Montclair and South Upland border one another. All of Montclair borders Los Angeles County on its west side. Where Upland’s west side does not abut Montclair, it also meets Los Angeles County. Upland has a population of 73,732 and covers 15.6 square miles. Montclair boasts 36,664 residents within its 5.5 square mile confines. The idea of consolidating the two cities’ fire departments was first raised by Montclair City Manager Edward Starr in 2013. Following discussions with then-Upland City Manager Stephen Dunn, the cities’ respective councils signed off not on forming a single fire department but on sharing administrators. That change consisted of Montclair not replacing its departing fire chief and Upland’s fire chief taking on the title of chief for both cities. The departments merged battalion commanders as well. What was suggested was that if this worked out, a full merging of the department might be effectuated in the future…
This experiment was embraced by just about everyone, though Upland Councilman Glenn Bozar pointed out that the lion’s share of the savings accrued to Montclair rather than Upland. He wanted a more even distribution of the savings. While Upland’s residents are wealthier than Montclair’s, Montclair, which is home to the Montclair Plaza, is a richer municipality than Upland based on sales tax receipts. This tussle over money has perhaps retarded the progression to a full-fledged consolidation of the department. That, in my view, is a shame, because a merger would be a splendid economy for both cities. Having one department in this geographically compact two-city area would reduce the redundancy in manpower in place now…
For other reasons, this type of consolidation is an idea the time for which has come. Why stop at just Montclair and Upland? How about including Chino and Chino Hills? And Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga into the bargain?
I am anxious for the full Upland/Montclair merger to take place because it could prove a gateway to other adjoining cities adopting this concept. Already Colton and Loma Linda share a single fire department. They are ahead of the curve on this. How about Fontana, Rialto and Bloomington forming a common department? Years ago, Apple Valley Town Mayor Nick DePrisco talked about his town, Hesperia and Victorville forming a tri-city alliance in which they would have not only a shared fire department but a joint police department as well. For some reason that idea was never executed upon…
This brings me to an even grander concept I will float here: In addition to merging different but proximate cities’ fire departments, why not merge the police departments and fire departments as well? Instead of having police officers and firemen, we could have public safety officers fulfilling both tasks. This would have multiple benefits. An obvious improvement is that it would fill in the extensive down time firemen now experience in the hours and hours they expend just simply hanging around the fire station. Instead, they could be out patrolling the streets…
In addition, this would oblige our police officers to cultivate extensive lifesaving skills they today are not required to have, ensuring that our first responders are trained and equipped to deal with whatever it is they encounter…