Several police and fire departments in the county have seen the benefits of a growing trend around the state — departments or municipalities joining forces to provide more efficient service.

With rising costs of insurance, training and equipment and decreasing numbers of volunteers, smaller fire departments merging in many cases was a no-brainer, officials say.

State officials have been recommending mergers and providing assistance since the early 2000s.

In 2005, the state House of Representatives’ budget and finance committee released a report titled “The Feasibility of Regionalizing Pennsylvania’s Volunteer Fire Companies” that observed that the state had a large number of independent fire departments, but a shrinking number of volunteers.

The report states that all-volunteer companies covered 96 percent of the state, while the national average is only 73 percent. Since the mid-1970s, the state had seen a decrease of about 8,000 volunteers per year.

In 2007, the Mars and Valencia departments became the first in the county to take the plunge when they merged to form Adams Area Fire District.

“It was a learning experience; we were kind of the guinea pigs at it. We had researched it from other areas outside of Butler and outside of the state, but we were the first to do it around here,” fire district President Jason Safreed said.

Since then, officials with the department have been available as a resource to some of the other departments in the county, Safreed said.

The biggest benefit, both financially and operationally, of merging was reducing duplication of equipment and costs, he said.

Overhead costs such as bookkeeping, insurance and workers’ compensation were all consolidated under one organization and the department was able to sell some of its trucks and equipment.

The fire district serves four municipalities, Adams Township, Seven Fields, Mars and Valencia, and still uses three different stations, though that may change.

A new fire station on Route 228 in Adams Township is under construction. It will replace the headquarters building located in Mars. A substation in Seven Fields will remain in use, but the substation in Valencia may be unnecessary once the department has a more centrally located station.

Because of an aging population in the Valencia area, the department struggles to find volunteers who live there, Safreed said. Using volunteers who live elsewhere in their coverage area, the department will still have good response times to Valencia from its new station, he said.

In 2014, the Lyndora, Meridian and Greenwood Village departments merged to form Butler Township Volunteer Fire District Station 3.

Merging was a good decision, assistant Fire Chief Dave Bestwick said.

“We have been extremely pleased with how well the process has gone. There were some hurdles and speed bumps along the way, but it went better than we could have anticipated,” he said.

The department sold its former Greenwood Village station on Old Eberhart Road, but response times and staffing have actually improved since the merger, Bestwick said.

The location of the Greenwood Village station was central to the department’s coverage area when it was built, but the development of the New Castle Road corridor made it more difficult for volunteers to get there quickly when coming from their houses, he said.

Before and after the merger, members of the community and the firefighters were all supportive, Bestwick said.

“When the committee was formed, we had to take off our hats, check the egos at the door and come in with an open mind,” he said.

Starting this year, the Harmony and Zelienople departments began operations as one department, the Harmony Fire District, a move that officials said had been in the works for more than 20 years.

The district serves Harmony, Zelienople, Jackson Township and Lancaster Township.

“It’s been very beneficial, one of the major things we’ve seen is prevention of duplication of equipment in a very small area,” Fire Chief Scott Garing said.

Since the merger, the department has been able to sell two fire engines and a rescue truck and it plans to sell another fire truck and a pickup truck next year.

One challenge they have faced is figuring out where to call home. The department vacated the former Zelienople station and has been operating out of the Harmony station and the Lancaster Township substation.

They plan to build a new station in a central location sometime soon, but those plans have not been finalized, Garing said.

A $97,000 grant, for which the department has to provide matching funds, from the state Department of Community and Economic Development helped them to rebrand. Getting a new name means the department had to create a new logo, change the lettering on all of its trucks, get new helmet shields, T-shirts and signage.

The DCED’s Governor’s Center for Local Government Services also provides grants and assistance to communities looking at forming regional police forces.

Pennsylvania has more police departments than any other state in the nation and 83 percent of municipal departments operate with fewer than 10 officers, according to the Governor’s Center’s website.

Last year, Evans City and Seven Fields boroughs entered into an agreement to form the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department. Before that the Evans City police served the borough and Seven Fields was under a contract to get police services from the Cranberry Township department.

Police administrator Tom Smith said that both municipalities have been able to save money and get improved police protection as a result of the regionalization.

By expanding to two boroughs, the department has been able to upgrade its record-keeping computer software, buy a new SUV and other equipment. These upgrades may not have been possible when the department served just Evans City, Smith said.

The police commission, which has three representatives from each borough, is now working on its third budget and they have managed to decrease costs each year, Smith said.

Since the department formed, Seven Fields has also benefitted from having officers on patrol and a much-increased police presence, Smith said.

“There was never any question of the level of professionalism or service we got, but it was based on residents having to call 911 for service,” Smith said about being under contract with Cranberry.

“There were periodic patrols, but not to the extent we have now,” Smith said.

Between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. there are at least two officers on patrol, one in each borough and each borough has 24-hours-a-day coverage.

The department also got a state Municipal Assistance Plan grant, which helped it to purchase the new SUV and new laptops.

There could be more mergers or regional departments in Butler County in the future.

Earlier his year, officials with the Connoquenessing and Evans City fire departments formed committees to look at the possibility of a merger.

Officials with numerous municipalities around the county have mulled forming regional police departments during the past 10 years, but most have decided against it.

Lancaster and Jackson township officials talked about a merger of their police departments in 2008. Also in 2008, Saxonburg and Buffalo, Clinton and Middlesex townships worked with state officials on a feasibility study to see if a regional police department could work.

More recently, officials from Butler Township, the city of Butler and Center Township met to discuss options for their police protection.