Summit-Millburn Fire Study Moves Forward

The Summit Fire Department is joining forces with the Millburn Fire Department to apply for a Sharing Available Resources Efficiently grant through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to fund an RFP to study the feasibility of the Summit Fire Department sharing more services or consolidating with the Millburn Fire Department.

The Common Council approved a resolution supporting this move on Sept. 9. The Summit Fire Department, which already shares dispatching services with Millburn, has agreed to take the lead on the proposal. Millburn’s Township Council passed a resolution authorizing this RFP proposal at its meeting on Sept. 1.

The purpose of the RFP is to “identify areas in which cost savings can be realized, without reduction in emergency services,” the resolution reads.

“It’s been a success,” Joseph Houck, Summit Fire Chief, said of the current relationship with Millburn. “We work well together.”

Houck said the two departments knew they wanted an outsider to conduct the study because neither department has any preconceived ideas about what consolidations, if any, should occur. He also said nothing is being ruled out, from just sharing a few more pieces of equipment to a full-blown merger.

The Summit Fire Department is also investigating the possibility of sharing dispatching service with Berkley Heights and New Providence as well. While the possibility of that decision is occurring outside the parameters of the Millburn/Summit RFP, Houck assures that one will not negatively effect the other.

“We won’t do anything to upset the Millburn and Summit fire relationship,” he said.