Dearborn City Council Approves Merger with Melvindale Fire Department

A planned merger between the Dearborn and Melvindale fire departments is closer to fruition following approval from the Dearborn City Council on Tuesday.

The council voted 5-0 to approve a consolidation plan with the city of Melvindale for an initial term of 15 years. The council also authorized Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr. to execute a formal contract with Melvindale upon approval of the city's legal department.

Prior to the vote, Council President Tom Tafelski excused himself citing a potential conflict of interest. Tafelski works as a financial planner with AXA Advisors, LLC. One of the company's clients is the city of Melvindale. Councilwoman Nancy Hubbard was absent for the vote.

"This is something the city has been working on since 2010. It's really about trying to do more with less," Tafelski said.

Under the proposed plan, operations and equipment would be managed by the Dearborn Fire Department. Fire Chief Joseph Murray said the Melvindale station and all of the stations in Dearborn would remain open, and Melvindale's 15 firefighters would be absorbed into the DFD. Murray will serve as the chief of the consolidated department, and Melvindale's Steven Densmore will serve as deputy chief.

With the addition of the Melvindale station, Murray said response times for both communities would be reduced to between 2 to 4 minutes. Currently Dearborn's response time in some areas of the city range in the 6 to 8 minute mark.

"The proposal eliminates redundancy. It also offers benefits for both departments that we would not achieve otherwise due to the current economy," Murray said.

One of those benefits is extra manpower.

Under the consolidation, multiple firefighters may respond to an emergency, depending if the call is a fire or a medical dispatch. For an advanced life support rescue, the department would send an engine and an ambulance staffed by five firefighters. Basic life support rescues would dispatch one ambulance with two firefighters.

In the case of a fire, a minimum of three stations will be dispatched, putting 17 firefighters at the scene within minutes, rather than waiting for a mutual aid truck to be dispatched.

Murray said the Melvindale City Council still has to approve the consolidation, however he feels confident the project will move forward.

"We have had some positive talk with Melvindale. Both communities have done a good job to make sure that this plan is beneficial operationally and financially for all of our coverage area," he said. "We're shooting to have a full consolidation in place by Sept. 1."