Fire Deparments should be amalgamated

I read that, for a population of 30,000 people in a very small area, there are four different fire departments.

To be fair, one is with the airport, and they may always want a dedicated fire department, but for Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney, to all have separate independently run fire departments, makes no logical sense.

Thankfully there is a suggestion from Ron Kubek on the counsel of Central Saanich that the issue should be reviewed to see if it makes sense to group the paid and volunteer firefighters under one management. Perhaps it makes sense to share specialized equipment, training, and group purchasing power.

If it makes sense for these areas to consider joining forces, would not there be an even greater sharing of resources, equipment, training, expertise, purchasing power, and manpower by making the region organized under one fire department with a number of fire halls?

Remember not every fire hall is its own department. There are clearly significant advantages from a larger group working together on such a fundamentally important issue.

The issue would solve itself, if the municipalities themselves were amalgamated.