Brookfield, New Berlin Fire Departments Team Up to Best Serve Communities

It's been six months since the Brookfield Fire Department joined teams with the New Berlin department in order to create a more effective response to emergency situations, and Fire Chief Charlie Myers said the setup is working great.

"Overall its been positive, because they are closer than we are to that area ... we're close to their area — and the end result has been people get somebody to their door sooner no matter what it is," he said. 

The collaboration calls for the neighboring departments to respond to the opposite community where it makes more sense given the station location and the location of the emergency call. 

Specifically, New Berlin would be first responder to the area east of 154th to 124th and South of I-94 and Brookfield would be first responder to the area west of 164th to Springdale Road and North of Lincoln Avenue. Before the collaboration, both departments responded to about 150 calls in these areas — so the departments consider it an even trade.

Once the host community arrives on scene to the call, that department takes over, according to the agreement. Most ambulance calls are still conducted along community lines; however, if an emergency occurs where New Berlin responds to Brookfield, for example, the resident is charged at the Brookfield rate.

Myers said the setup really makes a difference in preventing serious damage, citing one example in which New Berlin arrived to a Brookfield home first and was able to get started putting out the fire, diminishing the amount of damage done.