Western Twin Cities suburbs merge fire departments to end yearslong drama

The fight between Orono and Long Lake for control of fire services in the closely connected western Twin Cities suburbs has finally died down.

The Orono City Council unanimously agreed Monday to dissolve its fire department as the city prepares to form a joint fire department with Long Lake. The decision caps a contentious few years in the neighboring suburbs, with Long Lake suing Orono in 2023 for hiring away its firefighters to create its own department.

The conflict drove a contentious and expensive Orono mayoral election in 2024, revealing the sometimes messy politics of shared emergency services in the Twin Cities. Some fire departments also have faced growing pains in recent years as suburban populations swell and departments transition from volunteer forces to more structured models.

Orono, the larger of the two suburbs, stretches north from the shore of Lake Minnetonka and surrounds the city of Long Lake.

The news that the suburbs will pool resources to form the Shoreline Fire Department, which will begin operating Jan. 1, pleased people who previously opposed Orono’s attempts to break away from Long Lake.

Brad Erickson, an Orono resident who became an outspoken critic of the former mayor who pushed to form a standalone service, said the current City Council “did the right thing.”

“It is so important that those communities get along and don’t become divided by such divisive tactics,” he said.

But 2½ years ago, then-Orono Mayor Dennis Walsh began pushing for his city to form its own force, arguing Orono paid too much for its neighbor’s services and could more efficiently run an independent department.

Long Lake leaders bristled at what they viewed as a “hostile takeover,” with Orono spending over $750,000 to hire a fire chief and purchase a ladder truck. Council meetings erupted into shouting matches as residents and officials publicly sparred.

Nevertheless, Orono voted to form its own department in June 2023, prompting Long Lake to file suit against its neighbor to block attempts to take over a shared fire station before a contract between the cities expired.

A judge twice found Orono in contempt of court for recruiting firefighters from Long Lake.

The drama set the stage for a pivotal election last fall: Walsh, a fierce proponent of his city’s independent department, overwhelmingly lost the mayor’s race to Bob Tunheim. And five months later, the two cities reached a deal to form a joint force.

The plan calls for merging Orono’s newly formed force with Long Lake’s century-old department, fusing the former’s part-time employee approach with the latter’s paid-on-call model. Crews stationed at facilities will immediately respond to calls during working hours, while paid-on-call firefighters will step in nights and weekends.

“It will serve our communities very, very well going forward,” Tunheim said.

Long Lake Mayor Charlie Minor said the new department will mostly be made up of the same dedicated firefighters currently serving the two cities — just with a different name on the truck. Other cities, he added, are merging fire services, with the Maple Plain Fire Department soon set to join forces with the West Suburban Fire District.

Minor said he “couldn’t be more pleased” with the new arrangement.