The consultant who is conducting a study of the fire service in Bellwood-Antis plans to recommend consolidation of the two fire companies that serve Bellwood Borough and Antis Township, according to Antis Township Manager Doug Brown.

Prior to the study, Excelsior leadership recommended a merger, Pinecroft leadership expressed a commitment to what the study will find and the supervisors are likewise “definitely committed to the (study’s) outcome,” Brown said this week.

The consultant shared his intention to recommend consolidation after Brown asked for a progress report recently, although it’s not clear what the “nuts and bolts” of such a combination would look like, if it happens, Brown said.

“We know the final (proposed) outcome, but we don’t know the mechanics of it,” Brown said.

The state Department of Community and Economic Development-sponsored study will be completed in the fall, Brown said.

“So we’re not going to take any drastic action now,” he said.

In contrast to its past practice, the department now works with municipalities and organizations to implement the recommendations of such studies, Brown said.

“Instead of just handing them to you,” he said.

It’s likely that both departments will need to be audited as part of consolidation, according to Brown.

Pinecroft has had issues, and one of the consequences has been an agreement to be audited every five years, he said.

Based on that, an audit is due, but Pinecroft leadership is hesitating because of the cost, and there have been suggestions that something less than a full audit would suffice, Brown said.

He favors a full audit, however, he said.

Also needed will be a review of departmental bylaws to ensure there will be no issues, Brown said.

“So we start with a clean slate,” he said.

If there is consolidation, there would need to be a mechanism to ensure that any expenditure for equipment prior to merger would make sense afterward, he said.

It wouldn’t make sense for one department to buy a new engine rescue truck only to discover that it’s too small for a merged department, Brown said.

Conversely, it wouldn’t make sense for a department to sell an old truck that is being replaced, if it turns out that the combined department needs two such trucks, he said.

Ultimately, the decision to merge or not would be up to each department, he said.

The township’s ultimate leverage in the situation would be decertification of a department, which would mean the department would no longer be authorized to respond to calls, Brown said.

No one wants that to happen, according to Brown.

“Their hearts are in the right place,” Brown said of the leaders of both organizations.