The fire authority is still in early stages of discussion as the muncipalities involve discuss whether or not regionalization is the best option for all potential participants.

A fire authority will require an agreement between policy makers, labor unions, and administration. Members of the proposed authority continue to fail to successfully navigate these three issues.

Time line and progress for the proposed regional fire department during 2012 by the Township of Ypsilanti

Here are the meeting dates of the area fire departments between Ann Arbor, Pittsfield, City of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township.

Feb. 3rd 2012, July 26th 2012, Sept 24th 2012 and Oct 19th 2012.

In these meetings we discussed ways or processes to forge collaborations that could lead to an area or regional fire department. Primarily we looked at:

Fire Prevention - Code Enforcement initiatives like standardizing our adopted fire/building codes, sharing or contracting prevention services, creation of an Arson Task force and inspection/review cost recovery programs.

Operations - Suppression initiatives including enhancing the Box Alarm to an Automatic-Aid response in order to impact ISO ratings. Exploring delivery of a fire service based Advanced Life Support (ALS) transport system.

Chief Copeland, Township of Ypsilanti

Our hope is to continue to meeting with the other area fire departments and brainstorm to find ways to collaborate in order to benefit the overall safety and cost to our communities. 

The Townships greatest barrier is how to determine of the best method to set up a mutually beneficial Fire Authority.  However, there have been other great ideas of shared services that have come out of our meetings.