MONROE — In an announcement in last week’s Monroe Times the two rural fire departments outlined their future plans to function as an independent fire department separate of the Monroe Fire Department.

It’s a move that’s been a long time coming as personalities and costs have made the rural fire district fire protection wary of committing to money it may not have to spend on fire protection.

While the parties involved continue to negotiate and discussions about fire protection have come to a point, the Monroe Common Council pushed the point further last week asking the rural fire districts of Monroe and Clarno to take two weeks to consider if they wanted six more months of extended coverage from the Monroe Fire Department. This may take several closed-session meetings of the rural fire departments to resolve. However, at the firefighter-level, there’s great enthusiasm to continue to provide service for the municipalities involved.

The Monroe City Council went into closed session on Monday, May 18, to discuss how to handle future negotiations with the rural fire district. The rural fire district took out an advertisement in the Monroe Times last week explaining why it was considering creating a new rural fire district that would cover the towns of Monroe and Clarno. 

The direction of the rural fire department is guided by its own town leaders, including Todd Hasse, Town of Monroe chairman and a member of the Monroe volunteer fire department. Portions of the rural fire department no longer want to work with the city’s fire department. This uneasy situation has existed for years and spans over more than a decade in which the Monroe Fire Department has employed full-time fire chiefs and assistant fire chiefs. For the last 36 months the Times has covered difficulties involving ongoing disagreements among those involved in the fire department.

The council on May 18 approved a measure to continue its support agreement with the towns of Monroe and Clarno for the next six months. However, the towns have two weeks to make that decision.

Once that decision is made, the towns can extend fire protection through the city past October. It will take direct negotiations between the towns and the cities to outline the necessary fire protection.

Many businesses rely on fire protection coverage to ensure that they satisfy their insurance coverage.