Local officials wonder if teaming up might be the future of fire fighting in Rock County.

The Milton Fire Department is looking at either forming its own full-time, dedicated department or consolidating completely with the Janesville Fire Department as one entity.

Ernie Rhodes, who serves as fire chief for both departments, said combining the two departments would provide a model for other fire departments in the county to join the conglomerate and eventually form a county-wide fire department.

Janesville City Manager Mark Freitag said he’s had “big picture” conversations with Beloit City Manager Lori Curtis-Luther about “bringing together services,” which could include fire and EMS response.

Freitag said they could work toward an intermediate step of Rock County North and Rock County South fire departments before eventually connecting to one service, if it worked for all involved parties.

The county recently switched to a GPS-based dispatch system, where the Rock County Communications Center will send the closest fire firefighters to any fire, regardless of which department they work for.