FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – After nearly 25 years operating under the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Broward County commissioners are considering bringing the county’s fire rescue department under direct county control.
During a meeting on Thursday, commissioners voted to place the issue on the agenda for their Sept. 22 meeting, where they could begin discussions on possibly transitioning fire rescue away from BSO.
“I’d like to move to direct the county administrator to place an item on the September 22nd board agenda,” said Commissioner Lamar Fisher.
If the board moves forward with the process, it could change who oversees fire rescue services across the county.
“Broward County now has the opportunity to control its own fire department and its costs,” said Fisher.
BSO has been responsible for fire rescue since 2003 under an agreement with the county. That agreement has been automatically renewed every five years. The next renewal is set for Sept. 2028.
If commissioners ultimately decide to take control of fire rescue, the county would have to provide BSO with at least a year’s advance notice.
“Nothing against the sheriff, but we have to look at taxpayers’ money, so we provide the same level of service, and hopefully it costs a little bit less, but we can control that. Right now we don’t control that cost,” said Fisher.
Fisher believes the transition could be relatively straightforward if approved.
“There’s 907 employees in the fire rescue service, so all we’re doing is bringing them over to Broward. Nobody loses their job. The cities have municipality contracts with fire rescue. We will honor those contracts,” he said.
The commissioner said residents would likely notice little difference in the day-to-day service.
“The public won’t even know a difference other than the patch on the arm will say Broward County versus Broward Sheriff’s Office,” said Fisher.
But other commissioners said they want more information before deciding whether to move forward.
“Interested to hear the discussion. I hear from many of the municipalities that this is a direction that they would like to go so we certainly should investigate it,” said Commissioner Nan H. Rich
“I would certainly like more data, I’m sure as we get into discussion, we’ll get data, historically why it was given over to BSO in the first place,” said Commissioner Alexandra P. Davis.
The board decided to provide 30 days before the September meeting to give commissioners enough time to review the proposal and determine where they stand on the issue.
“The 30-day window will give time for every commissioner to understand it and then make the decision on the 22nd whether we want to move forward with that notification,” said Fisher.
The possible change comes as several departments have previously examined ways to separate from BSO, particularly on the law enforcement side. After Thursday’s meeting, fire rescue could be next.
The possible change comes as several departments have previously examined ways to separate from BSO, particularly on the law enforcement side. After Thursday’s meeting, it appears that fire rescue could be next.
As of Thursday night, BSO had not responded to 7News’ request for comment.
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