By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – An agreement intended to get fire personnel and equipment on the scene faster and more efficiently was backed Tuesday, Oct. 2, by the Ashwaubenon Public Works and Protection Committee.
Ashwaubenon Public Safety Chief Eric Dunning said the new agreement is for what will be known as the Fox River Auto Aid District, which will include Ashwaubenon, De Pere, Lawrence, Hobart, Bellevue and Ledgeview.
Dunning said it will result in the fire department of the municipality where a call about smoke or flames originates and three neighboring fire departments being dispatched at the same time.
He noted those five municipalities have been working together since 2015 to organize what is now called the Fox River Fire District, which is divided into two response zones, east and west, with the Fox River being the border.
Dunning said the Fox River Auto Aid District will make it possible for a fire department in a neighboring municipality that is closer to the scene of a fire to arrive sooner than only dispatching the fire department of the municipality where the fire originates.
“Basically, we’re getting four units up on scene being dispatched at the same time – more efficiency getting personnel there…,” he said. “This is for actual smoke and flames, not alarms.”
For fire calls in Ashwaubenon where firefighters would arrive at the scene and determine there is not an emergency situation, such as if there would be smoke from someone who burned a pizza in an oven inside an apartment complex, Dunning said the village’s Public Safety Department would call off the fire departments from the surrounding municipalities and take care of what needs to be done.
“That’s what we’re going by is that whoever is calling in is actually seeing smokes and flames, where with the old system, you’d call in, you’d get one truck company arriving there, and then they get there and they go (report), ‘We’ve got flames,’” he said. “It could be 5-10 minutes before we get the other two municipalities there.”
Under the new agreement, Dunning said the efficiencies would be in life saving, safety and property preservation by arriving on the scene with four fire departments being dispatched at once.
In situations of larger emergencies, such as an apartment complex or warehouse fire, where the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) is used, Dunning said that would bring in additional resources from other agencies when necessary and would not be replaced by the Fox River Auto Aid District.
“This (Fox River Auto Aid District) is ensuring a step before we go to a MABAS call,” he said.
The agreement for the automatic aid district is being forwarded to the village for final consideration at its Oct. 23 meeting.