Comptroller: fire departs should merge

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Police departments and villages have looked at consolidation.

Now County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz says suburban fire companies should also consider mergers. According to his office, fire protection in Erie County outside the city cost $46 million last year. He says some towns have 10 volunteer companies. Poloncarz suggests some of those fire stations could even serve more than one town.

Poloncarz argued, "Fire districts right on town lines, maybe if they build a station right on one town line, another, but they don't cross that line. Maybe they should. Those are the kinds of things they should be looking at."

Poloncarz says only Suffolk County on Long Island has more fire companies than Erie County.