Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Calumet Township Fire Department, an outgrowth of the former Calumet and Hecla Mining Company’s Hecla Fire Station, is one of three separate departments in the township being considered for consolidating into one Fire Authority.

CALUMET TOWNSHIP – Officials with Calumet Township, Calumet Village and Laurium Village, have begun discussing possibility of consolidating their fire departments into one authority.

Officials said creating one fire authority out of three separate departments would increase efficiency, decrease expenses, provide a larger number of firefighters, and centralize operations.

Calumet Township Supervisor Tim Gasperich said initial talks began as a type of mutual agreement between the three government entities. Initial discussions were between Gasperich, Ian Lewis, Laurium village manager, and Calumet Village Manager Megan Haselden. “We all agreed that we had to go back to our councils and boards, and ask their permission to move forward,” he said, “and we all received that approval.”

Plans for further discussion are temporarily on hold until summer activities slow down, Gasperich said. “Calumet (Village) has its 150th anniversary events going on,” he said, “we just got through Pasty Fest, and Laurium’s still trying their DPW fire situation, so I’m guessing that probably September or October we’ll have another meeting between Ian, Megan and myself.”

Moving forward, the municipalities will need to look at equipment each department owns, what needs to be done for a central building, and where such a building should be located, and even what to name it.

Lewis raised the topic at the regular July meeting of the Laurium Village Council of combining the three fire departments into a Fire Authority.

Discussions included pros and cons.

The pros include combining some services. There would be no impact on Laurium Village’s decision of whether to become a ‘city’ as it would be written into the contract.

A board would be created of managers, chiefs, and officers. There could be one efficient new building built that would house all equipment. For Laurium, it would provide the ability to sell the property currently housing its Volunteer Fire Department and put it back on the tax rolls.

Dan Zubiena, Laurium fire chief, addressed the issue from a different perspective. He said many firefighters are getting older and do not feel they can retire leaving their departments short. He suggested younger folks would like to be involved with Calumet Twp because there is more activity there.

Currently, Zubiena said, Laurium’s fire department has 14 members, Calumet Village has 11 or 12, and the Twp has 20. Additionally, he added, there are 12 piece of equipment within 1. 5 miles of each other.

“There is a lot of duplications. Repairs to equipment are not cheap,” he said. “We lose guys to the Township because young guys are excited to be involved and want to go on more calls. For too long, no one wanted to talk about it. This is a good time to take advantage of the opportunity.”

At the July 15 regular meeting of the Calumet Village Council, the trustees unanimously approved a motion to continue consolidation discussions with Laurium and Calumet Township. Lewis said the question of consolidating the three fire departments comes down to how can the three communities better the area, how can they work together and how can three expenses be eliminated in exchange for just one expense.