Chesterfield Fire District No. 1 and Fire District No. 2 will merge in February after residents in both districts elect a new five-member Board of Fire Commissioners to govern the new consolidated fire district, as well as a consolidated budget and tax rate, officials said.

CHESTERFIELD — The township’s two separate fire districts plan to merge next year in what is expected to be the first successful consolidation of fire districts in Burlington County.

Chesterfield Fire District No. 1 and Fire District No. 2 will merge in February after residents in both districts elect a new five-member Board of Fire Commissioners to govern the consolidated fire district, as well as a consolidated budget and tax rate, officials said.

“The township voted to go forward and both fire districts have said they’re in favor of it,” Chesterfield Fire District No. 1 Commissioner Dana Boyadjian said Wednesday. “We’re still working on the final details with our attorneys, the township and the state, but we believe it will happen.”

The fire districts are small government entities — independent of their municipal governments — that oversee fire protection in their territories, and in some cases emergency medical services as well. They have the power to tax, but residents get the chance to vote to approve or reject their proposed budgets during annual fire district elections on the the third Saturday in February.

Currently there are 18 fire districts in 15 towns in the county, including Chesterfield, Bordentown Township and Moorestown, which each have two districts.

Details about the proposed consolidated Chesterfield Fire District budget and tax rate were not available as the plan is still under review by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, but the local governing body voted last month to authorize the merger to move forward.

The average homeowner in Fire District No. 1 is expected to pay about $25 more and the average homeowner in Fire District No. 2 is expected to pay $75 more, officials said.

In Fire District No. 1, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $390,394 now pays $437 in fire taxes. In Fire District No. 2, a home assessed at the same amount pays $366.

In addition to the two fire districts merging, the previously separate Union Fire Co., which was affiliated and funded by Fire District No. 1, and the Chesterfield Hose Fire Co., which was affiliated and funded by District No. 2, will unite under a single chief and command structure, officials said.

Chesterfield No. 1’s six paid firefighters will become employees of the new merged fire district and the two companies’, which officials said should improve service and response times.

Fire District No. 2 currently relies on a volunteers only but the paid firefighters from District 1 typically respond to their emergencies.

Still to be determined is the fate of the Union Fire Co. stationon New Street in the Crosswicks section of the township. The building was once a school but was converted into a firehouse in 1968. Boyadjian said the firehouse will likely remain in use for the time being, but that eventually all firefighters and equipment will move to the newer, and more centrally located Chesterfield Hose fire station on Bordentown-Chesterfield Road.

“That’s going to happen at some point,” Boyadjian said, adding that some personnel will likely move to Chesterfield Hose once the merger is finalized.

Sharing a firehouse is expected to reduce costs, and the merger is also expected to create savings on equipment, training and legal services, officials said.

Chesterfield Mayor Rita Romeu said the Township Committee agrees the consolidation is in the public’s interest.

“It’s been in the works for a long time but in the last year both districts agreed to move forward,” Romeu said. “Really it’s up to the fire commissioners to make the final determination … It should definitely lead to improvements in the service we’ll get.”

Brian Wilson, a former chief of the Chesterfield Hose Fire Co. and a member of the consolidation committee that negotiated the merger plans, said officials from both districts knew combining the districts and their respective resources was the right thing to do.

“It really took the cooperation of both fire companies, both fire districts and everyone willing to compromise,” said Brian Wilson, a former fire chief of the Chesterfield Hose Fire Co. who was part of a consolidation committee that negotiated the merger plans.

“That’s why we’re where we are now. We know we’re doing the right thing,” he said.

The merger is believed to be the first in the works in Burlington County since 2016, when legislation specifying a clear process for fire districts and towns to follow to merge fire districts became law. Prior to 2016, state law was silent on the issue.

State Sen. Troy Singleton, D-7th of Palmyra, was serving in the state Assembly in 2016 and sponsored the bill that created the path for fire districts and governing bodies to follow. Reached Wednesday, he said he was pleased to see Chesterfield move forward.

“When we started working on this issue, our goal was to create a template which would allow local fire districts that come to this merger decision to have a clear and easy process in order to do it,” Singleton said. “Chesterfield’s decision is a validation of our bipartisan efforts to bring more efficiency and cost effectiveness to these local government decisions.”

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