The consulting firm chosen to review the structure of the Albert Lea Fire Department will be in town in about a week to conduct further interviews.

Interim Fire Chief Dwaine Winkels said Florida-based firm Almont Associates will have additional meetings with city staff, firefighters, city councilors, ambulance crews, previous fire chiefs, and firefighters from other departments within the county.

Winkels, the police chief, said anyone from the public with good insight into the department can also share their opinions during the firm’s three-day visit from March 20-22.

The purpose of the review is to look at whether there should be changes in staffing for the department, along with what should be done with the existing fire station and who should lead the department.

The evaluation comes as city leaders are studying the efficiency of the department while steering the city through tight budget times. The firm was hired to get an outside viewpoint.

Winkels said the firm’s first visit focused on initial analysis and an overview of the department, meeting with the city’s advisory committee and conducting interviews.

The department and firm have also collected data about response times, types of calls, manpower and personnel training records. They have also taken an inventory of equipment.

“It’s really going good so far,” Winkels said. “Just pulling the data for me was very informative. I was able to figure out some information I had been wondering about.”

One piece of data, Winkels said, is a response map for Albert Lea, which tells how long it takes the firefighters to arrive at various areas across the city.

Winkels said the firefighters can get to any location in Albert Lea in less than six minutes.

Members of the firm will come back to town one or two times after the mid-March visit, with the review expected to be completed by May.

The firm is being paid almost $30,000 for the work.

Winkels said if anyone from the public is interested in being a part of the review, they should call 377-4341. He will respond to messages left at this number.