Central Ohio has benefited greatly from a long-standing arrangement among 34 independent fire departments resulting in a metropolitan-like fire department. But it is beset with inefficiencies: It lacks economies of scale and mass purchasing power and it skips operational savings in such areas as training, administration and deployment of equipment. The State Fire Marshal, a former fire chief, notes the potential resistance saying “there’s not too many fire stations, but there are too many fire departments.”
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