The cities of Tukwila and SeaTac are working together on a comprehensive plan to possibly join forces through their fire departments.

The fire master plan was started, according to Tukwila Fire Chief Nick Olivas, by a series of discussions between the two former mayors of each city--Steve Mullet of Tukwila and Gene Fisher of SeaTac.

"They had a discussion on whether or not it was feasible for our two departments to work more closely together," said Chief Olivas. "They discussed options including the possibility of combining departments through the formation of a regional fire authority."

Also, Chief Olivas added, Mullet was interested in assessing fire impact fees, and the only way to levy such a thing would be if the fire department had a master plan.

Each city, to compose the beginnings of a master plan, hired a consultant to examine both the SeaTac and Tukwila fire departments in detail.

"They looked at all aspects of the departments to determine what we were doing well, what areas needed improvement and what additional resources we needed, if any," said Olivas.

The consultant firm who performed this task was Emergency Services Consulting Inc. Each fire department was evaluated separately. This evaluation was phase one of the master plan.

Phase two and three examined what opportunities there are to cooperate and share facilities and equipment, according to Tukwila projects manager Lisa Verner.

"SeaTac and Tukwila already do a lot of mutual aid between them," said Verner.

The plan serves many purposes, including allowing the city to implement impact fees. The plan discusses consolidating fire stations 47 in SeaTac's Riverton Heights and 54 across from Tukwila's Foster High School..

It also has made several staffing recommendations to increase efficiency, and finally it lays out multiple recommendations for making a closer working relationship between the cities feasible.

The plan is still being discussed and analyzed.