A newly released state Department of Community and Economic Development study of the fire service in Antis Township and Bellwood is recommending that the two Bellwood-Antis companies consolidate.

Excelsior Fire Department No. 1 of Bellwood continues to make it clear that it would welcome consolidation, but Pinecroft Volunteer Fire Company hasn’t committed yet.

“I’m not saying ‘no,'” said company President Bill Muri at a supervisors meeting Thursday, adding that the idea of consolidation will be discussed at the company’s next board meeting.

When asked about providing written confirmation about willingness to participate in consolidation talks, Muri said yes.

“We need willing dance partners,” said Supervisor Steve Winterstein.

“I’m not saying we’re not (willing),” Muri said.

Authored by Charles Miller, the study recommends creation of a single department under an appointed fire chief with proper qualifications; the eventual construction of a new strategically located station followed by the closing of the two current ones; a recruitment and retention program that includes volunteer incentives and “potential part-time paid staffing”; position-specific training programs and a set of standardized operating procedures; best-practice maintenance practices; a capital replacement plan for trucks and equipment that would include dual purpose vehicles; formal mutual aid agreements; documentation to improve the area’s insurance rating; and exploring ways to generate revenue, including possible user fees, fire taxes, third-party billing of insured beneficiaries of the fire service and grants.

Realistically, the idea of replacing the two current stations with one newly constructed station is “down the road,” according to officials.

But the common assumption seems to be that if the departments unify, the leadership of that single department would likely gravitate to using only one of the two current stations in the short term so the department could operate most efficiently, according to Township Manager Doug Brown.

Taken together, the B-A fire service has only 47 active volunteers, fewer than 60% of those on the rosters, with response rates falling below National Fire Protection Association benchmarks, according to the study.

The two aging fire stations are costly to maintain and not ideally located, based on call patterns, according to the study.

Fire apparatus is “inconsistently maintained,” there is no uniform replacement schedule and there are apparatus redundancies caused by having two separate departments, according to the study.

Fire trucks now cost more than $1 million each, about twice as much as they did five years ago, officials said.

“(M)odernication is essential to maintain acceptable service levels amid declining volunteerism and increasing demands,” the study states. “Data-driven decision-making, unified governance and strong municipal leadership are critical for future success.”

Volunteerism is dwindling, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain fire services using volunteers alone, according to the study and officials at the meeting.

It’s especially hard for companies to respond in sufficient numbers during the day when many firefighters are working, noted Supervisor George Bell.

Eventually, across the entire state, there will need to be paid fire services, Brown said.

To put that off as long as possible locally, it’s critical to make operations as efficient as possible, Brown said.

Excelsior would like to keep its name in a merger, given that it has been in existence for 140 years, said Excelsior President Jimmy Greene.

Excelsior has more active firefighters who have reached the preferred certification level, leading to Excelsior receiving a much higher share of township funding than Pinecroft.

Greene’s suggestion touched off a discussion of what sort of consolidation might occur.

The “spirit” of the unification proposed by the study called for “the two become one” — not that “one disappears and one stays,” Bell said.

Shutting down one company would be “just stupid,” said Supervisor Ben Hornberger, a member of the Pinecroft company, and the lone supervisor who seemed to resist the consolidation idea.

“Why not put aside the ego bull– and work together to do the f– job,” Hornberger said.

Given that the township is looking to grow, shutting down one company is also “ironic,” Hornberger said.

Sustainability will mean going past the “status quo” and “reimagining service delivery in a way that meets today’s challenges, while preparing for future demands” — an effort that will require “professional leadership, strategic consolidation, reliable funding and community-focused prevention,” the study states.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.