The mayor and council members were in unanimous support of the pursuit.

“I’m fully supportive of this,” Councilwoman Amanda Breen said. “I have heard it so many times over the years: ‘Why do we have so many fire departments?’”

Councilwoman Courtney Hamilton concurred.

“This has been talked about for a long time,” she said. “It makes sense for so many reasons.”

McLaughlin said the following fire departments are welcome to join discussions: North Blaine County, Sun Valley, Wood River Fire and Rescue, Hailey, Bellevue, Carey and West Magic. Most of them are going before a leadership panel of some sort to ask for permission, like Ketchum did Tuesday.

McLaughlin said that this is not the first time consolidation efforts have come up—far from it. He said that it was most recently talked about—but not considered as seriously as this—in 2019, when he was hired and both the Hailey and Wood River positions were vacant.

“We need to start the beginning stages of talks now, so next time that a chief retires we are ready to [consolidate],” he said.

McLaughlin also mentioned a 2005 study paid for by Blaine County that determined the fire stations should be consolidated for the sake of efficiency.

Unification would also improve safety, according to McLaughlin. He said that with more efficient spending, the fire stations could afford to hire a full-time fire training officer.

The effort comes at a pivotal time for Ketchum. McLaughlin said that last year, the city set a record for the number of calls, and the pace isn’t slowing down. This year, compared to last, is up 29% thus far.

Councilman Jim Slanetz pointed out the money that could be saved by consolidating departments. He remembers the city being close to getting a deal done before, but said this time seems different.

“We spend too much money on redundancy,” he said.

McLaughlin said the Wood River Fire and Rescue department—which serves the unincorporated areas of southern Blaine County and assists in other calls—has its own issues with money right now, operating at a deficit. McLaughlin said the department could probably last another three years before it runs out of funds. He said he has been in contact with Chief Ron Bateman about this, and they looked at a couple of options.

One possibility is a mill levy, a property tax used by local governments and other jurisdictions to raise revenue to cover annual expenses.

“We’re really skeptical that a mill levy to increase ambulance funding would pass right now,” McLaughlin said.

The other option, McLaughlin said, is for the Blaine County Ambulance District—an ex-officio sub-board of the Blaine County Board of Commissioners—to cut funding to Wood River Fire and Rescue, as well as some other smaller agencies.

The chief summed up the current issue this way: “It’s a lot harder to run five one-station fire departments than one five-station fire department,” he said.

The rivalries between fire departments in Blaine County is an open secret, Councilman Michael David said, but the Ketchum City Council is excited to try to push past that.

“I think we tiptoe around the competitive nature of the departments,” he said. “There’s no question that when there is an event everyone comes together. But outside of that, [it’s competitive].”