Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Andy Kovacs’ name and to clarify that either district could be included into the other through the merger-by-inclusion option.

Unifying two northern El Paso County fire districts would increase available emergency resources, integrate procedures and establish uniformed training, operations and fire code enforcement across their service areas, fire officials said Wednesday.

The Tri-Lakes Monument and Donald Wescott fire protection districts last week mulled possible options to unify under a new regional fire protection and emergency services agency that would build on existing cooperative efforts between the two entities.

“I think through unification we’d do a lot better of a job and be a lot more effective as one,” Wescott Interim Fire Chief Warren Jones said Wednesday. “In the field, we’re already making this happen. We just need to make it happen administratively.”

Formally uniting the districts, which together serve approximately 43,000 residents across about 62 square miles in northern El Paso and Douglas counties, would integrate administrative, training, fire prevention and “other critical internal support functions to support field operations,” according to a joint agency news release.

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If joined, the districts could make better use of fire station locations, fire trucks and other apparatuses, improve career opportunities, and provide for more cost-effective expansion of fire stations that would serve new development in the area, officials said.

Unification could also save residents money in the long-term by eliminating duplicate positions and making better use of legal, accounting, payroll and medical billing services, they added.

In a joint special work session last week the districts discussed four types of possible formal unification: creating a fire authority, creating a new district, and two forms of district merger.

By creating a fire authority, neither district would dissolve and both would fund a separate, independent local government body that would provide all emergency services as a single entity within the districts’ jurisdictions, according to meeting documents.

A second type of unification, called merger-by-inclusion, would allow one district to extend its boundaries over the other’s jurisdiction. If approved by voters, the extended district would provide all emergency services as a single entity to the area within both agencies’ boundaries.

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Both options had been undertaken by previous local fire districts, Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Chief Andy Kovacs said. On Jan. 1, 2005, the former Woodmoor-Monument and Tri-Lakes fire protection districts formed a new regional fire authority and on Jan. 1, 2008, established the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District through a merger-by-inclusion.

A third option, a form of district merger, would ask voters in Wescott’s Northern Subdistrict to absorb the district’s southern enclave. If approved, Wescott would transfer all of its jurisdiction to Tri-Lakes Monument, and then the Wescott district would dissolve.

The final option would ask voters in both districts to approve combining them with a new mill levy and a new board of directors. If approved, a new fire protection district would be created and the Wescott and Tri-Lakes Monument districts would end.

Neither district’s board has made a decision on which option to pursue, Kovacs and Jones said, and they anticipate discussions — with opportunities for public comment — to continue over several months.

The districts also plan to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study that would assess the practicality of unification, Jones said. That study would provide guidance on what a new agency would look like, how it would be staffed, the number of personnel needed, station locations and the estimated cost of unification, among other details.

If the districts unify, the process could take anywhere from six to 20 months to complete once started, they said.

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“I’d much rather approach this slowly and do it right,” Kovacs said.

Both chiefs said the conversation about unification isn’t new, but past efforts to combine the Wescott and Tri-Lakes Monument districts were unsuccessful.

“I think it just came down to a difference of opinion from the respective (districts) and they couldn’t agree to the terms of what that unification would look like,” Kovacs said.

Ultimately the goal of both districts is to provide a safe and healthy environment for residents, Jones said.

“We want to provide the absolute best and most effective services that we can,” he said. “It’s possible that some sort of unification between the districts is the way to get there.”