The Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety and partners from the area are finding new ways to improve emergency response while saving money.

Speaking to the Benton Harbor Public Safety and Public Works Committee this week, department deputy director of fire services Brian Kazmierzak told members about the new Shoreline Fire Collaborative, which he said consists of fire departments from Benton Harbor, Benton Township, St. Joseph, Lake Township, and Lincoln Township. He said they’re all now receiving the same training, using the same equipment, and pooling their resources. That means savings.

“If we buy fire gear in a group purchase, it’s a $400 discount per set,” Kazmierzak said. “So that’s almost a 10% discount that we’re getting just by group purchasing together at the same time.”

The model is somewhat similar to how mutual aid agreements work between neighboring departments. In fact, Kazmierzak said such cooperation is essential in fire services.

“There’s no community in this area that can do a house fire alone or can do a major incident alone. So we all share those resources. So when St. Joe has a fire, we go to St. Joe. When we have a fire, they were here this afternoon and vice versa. So it’s truly mutual.”

Kazmierzak said the Shoreline Fire Collaborative means each participating department follows the same procedures to the point where you can’t tell the difference between each one’s firefighters when they’re out on scene. He added this makes for better use of resources because not all departments need to keep the same equipment in-house.

Participation in the collaborative comes at no cost to the member communities.