Firefighting services in Green Lake Township could be in flux, joining other municipalities making decisions about their rural fire departments.

Township officials have hired a Washington, D.C.-based consultant to help them consider whether or not to withdraw from Grand Traverse Rural Fire Department. The township could then establish their own fire department or partner with another municipality. Ironically, Rural Fire -- as it is commonly called -- is planning to hire the same consultant to help develop a master plan, one that could help keep townships from jumping ship.

“All things are on the table,” says Green Lake Township Supervisor Paul Biondi. “These are business agreements, not a marriage. We’ve enjoyed the relationship for many years.”

Green Lake hired the consultant “to look over numbers, logistical things, response times and other issues,” Biondo says. “We’re trying to plan for the next five years.”

The consultant, he says, is a former firefighter/EMT with experience in Michigan.

If Green Lake decides to break away from Rural Fire, it wouldn’t be the first township to do so. Long Lake Township has its own fire/rescue service, something Blair Township already had. There is also Metro Fire, which broke years ago from Rural Fire and now covers three townships – Acme, East Bay and Garfield.

The other areas of the county are served by the all-volunteer Grand Traverse Rural Fire, which covers nearly 350 square miles with four stations (Interlochen, Kingsley, Fife Lake and Williamsburg.) It has only one paid firefighter: Chief Theo Weber, a retired veteran of the Traverse City department. Its 55 firefighters have medical first responder training. Eighty percent are also trained as EMTs, a higher certification. They receive a $25 “stipend” for each call they make, regardless, as Weber puts it, “of whether they’re out on a call for 20 minutes or for hours.”

“We are woefully underfunded,” he says. “It’s always a challenge to find volunteers.”

Rural Fire’s eight ambulances are not owned by the department; other entities control their use. Central dispatch, located in the Governmental Center, provides some coordination so that in most cases the nearest EMT service – ambulance or fire truck -- responds.

“Still, somehow, it works out,” Weber says.

Weber says he understands the temptation for townships to build their own fire/rescue services. He warns, though, that it will be costly.

“Over the years, some have served notice they are going to leave, but through a mediation process, decide to stay,” says Weber. “When you go off on your own, you lose purchasing power.”

One of the most frequently cited arguments for establishing an independent township firefighting/EMT department is improved emergency response, something that can also translate to better insurance ratings.

Insurance fees are based on a ten-point scale (one is best, ten worst). Some areas covered by Rural Fire have an insurance rating of five, the same as Traverse City’s score. But that’s only where there are hydrants and other sources of water. Other rural areas where water is harder to find fluctuate between ratings of seven to ten, Weber says. Training, equipment and other factors like fire protection efforts also affect rates.

As expensive and complicated organizations, fire departments are in flex regionwide. Leland Township’s board will consider a measure this week to disband its seven-member Fire Board and rely instead upon ad hoc committees for research and guidance. An Emergency Services Facilities Committee has already overseen construction of a new fire station as well as upgrades to the Lake Leelanau station.

At play, too, is the changing demographic landscape of the region. Green Lake Township’s population, as with most within Grand Traverse County, has increased dramatically in the past ten years.