It may be years before there is a single fire district for this region or a better model may be developed, but the Brewer fire chief has wisely started a conversation that must be kept going.

Fire Chief Rick Bronson has proposed that a single fire district be created for a dozen towns on both sides of the Penobscot River. Ultimately, municipal fire departments would be eliminated and one large department would maintain and operate all fire equipment and personnel. This approach has many benefits.

Of interest to most people, it should save money by reducing duplication. Currently, every small town in the area has at least one fire truck. Those trucks are expensive to buy, maintain and replace. Under the district model, there would likely be fewer trucks, which could free up money for more personnel. Having 10 fire trucks show up to a fire is not helpful if each truck is manned by only one or two firemen, which now happens.

This leads to a second advantage – the opportunity for specialization. Now, every fire department has to provide basic services. That leaves few resources for specialized teams, such as a hazardous materials crew. Under the regional approach, Chief Bronson envisions more opportunities for needed specialty teams.

A third advantage, but the hardest to sell, is that a regional approach brings more honesty to the system. Now, towns, large and small, have mutual aid agreements. Rather than being mutual, however, they mostly mean that large towns help small ones. This is fine except that large town taxpayers foot the bill.

For example, the Brewer Fire Department recently responded to a fire in a neighboring town because dispatchers were not able to raise anyone there. Brewer firemen were on the scene for an hour and a half before the town’s own fire crew arrived, according to Chief Bronson. The important thing is that the fire was put out, but if Brewer relied on help from the other town, it would likely be out of luck.

As part of the draft agreement, which is very much a work in progress, costs of the fire district would be divided among all the participating towns based on five factors. Accounting for roughly a third each are population, taxable property valuation and the number of alarm calls in the past year. Tax-exempt property valuation would account for 10 percent of the formula and excise taxes for 1 percent.

Under this formula, smaller towns would pay more than they are now. They are not likely to be happy about this, but the formula provides a fairer way to account for expenses that are currently being disproportionately borne by large communities.

The agreement will go through many more revisions. It should not, however, be abandoned.