The Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) is a combination fire department located in southwest Washington on the banks of the Columbia River. CWFD is the only fire department-based ambulance transport agency in Clark County, and provides emergency medical services (EMS) response and transport to over 65,000 residents. CWFD exists as a temporarily consolidated department in an agreement that has been renewed twice in two years. The problem was that CWFD had not determined an effective permanent solution to their short term functional consolidation. With no long term solution identified, it became difficult to conduct long range strategic planning for the organization. As a result, maintaining the support of critical stakeholders such as the union firefighters, the volunteer organization, and the elected officials, became problematic.The purpose of this research was to identify methods by which CWFD could make their temporary consolidation permanent, and the potential benefits and obstacles that may be faced in accomplishing this goal. Descriptive methodology was used to answer the following research questions: (a) What models are available to advance consolidation? (b) What types of consolidations have been most successful in Washington? (c) What are the potential challenges to a successful permanent consolidation? and (d) What benefits have other agencies experienced when consolidating departments? Surveys and interviews were utilized as the primary source of data collection. The research showed that several possible paths to a permanent consolidation existed.The critical steps to making a successful permanent consolidation of CWFD focused on engaging the support of critical stakeholders such as labor, elected officials, and the community, and a renewed focus on public education to inform the community about the benefits of a permanent partnership.