I’ve said many times that we are blessed to have a really strong command staff at the South Milwaukee Fire Department, led by our three captains: Joe Knitter, Jim Dorangrichia and John Czajkowski.
These three men have stepped up to fill the void left with the retirement of Chief Jay Behling more than a year ago, working together to run the department as the search for a new chief began and was later put on hold as consolidation talks with Cudahy and St. Francis heated up.
Now one of them — Capt. Knitter — has been appointed acting chief. The decision was announced Friday.
As I’ve written about, Capt. Knitter is very qualified for the position, and I know he will serve ably until the long-term future of the chief position is determined. When that will be is an open question, as we continue to get more clarity around the consolidation efforts. That work, the subject of an upcoming study by the Public Policy Forum, will help shape the future of our department.
Best wishes to Capt. Knitter.
South Milwaukee Blog 
Doing a five minute internet search, it seems there is an interest in investigating consolidation from a wide range of communities (Oak Creek, Franklin, Greenfield, Greendale, Hales Corners, West Allis, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Caledonia). One of the articles appears to dismiss South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St. Francis from discussions because they have already begun investigating consolidation amongst themselves. Since there is this interest, have all these city leaders ever come together to discuss the best solution? Perhaps just South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St. Francis consolidating is not the best answer (perhaps it is). I’m not necessarily saying one department is the best either, however it appears from the outside looking in that there is a lot of discussion and investigation among small groups but not a consideration of the larger picture. Shouldn’t this be looked at before a decision is made on if and with whom to consolidate?
A push was made by the firefighters from all of the suburban fire departments in Milwaukee County, as well as the Milwaukee County Airport, to study forming a single suburban county-wide fire department. The goal was to provide stability in staffing and increased efficiency in operations. The general vibe from municipal leaders county-wide was that an option like that would be too big of a jump and that smaller groups would be a more practical way to go initially.
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