The heads of Honolulu’s Fire and Emergency Services departments say merging the two agencies could work well if done carefully.

Fire Chief Kenneth Silva and Emergency Services Director James Ireland, however, stressed Tuesday they are just beginning to talk about consolidating and that there is no timetable for the change to occur.

"We have two great departments," Ireland told the City Council’s Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs Committee. "And with synergy, we could have something potentially that’s even better."

Their appearance before the committee came a day after the public release of a city-sponsored study showing $10 million could be saved over five years if the two departments are merged and duplicate functions eliminated.

The Ocean Safety Division, which covers city lifeguards, would also become part of the Fire Department under the plan outlined in the $175,000 study by Emergency Services Consulting.

The money saved could help pay for additional personnel, thus improving services, Ireland said.

Some of the busiest urban Honolulu ambulances respond to 23 calls a day, while the typical "busy" rig in other U.S. cities makes 12 calls, he said, citing the report. "Clearly, when you’re running 23 calls per day, you’re too busy," he said.

Silva said he and Ireland have begun meeting with Mayor Peter Carlisle to review the 200-page report and figure out the next step.

"Fire-based" emergency services systems make up 70 percent of ambulance services in the top 200 U.S. cities, Silva said. "The model has been around for a long time. It is a proven model."

The state Health Department has a contract with the city to provide emergency services. Emergency services are already merged with the Fire Department in Hawaii County, while the state Health Department pays private contractors to operate emergency services in Maui and Kauai counties.

A concern about a merger raised previously, especially among paramedics, was about the potential for requiring personnel to be cross-trained.

Silva said learning new skills might be required of firefighters but not necessarily of emergency services or ocean safety personnel.

"Looking forward, in a merged environment, you would probably have some firefighters who would never do a lot of EMS, and you would have some EMS folks who wouldn’t do firefighting, but there would, I think, be a group in both agencies that would want to have a blended role," Ireland said.

Silva said one of the challenges will be merging the different cultures of the fire, EMS and ocean safety agencies. He also noted that the bulk of the work forces in each are represented by different public worker unions.

Silva and Ireland said they believe most of their personnel support a merger.

City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard said Council members want to examine the study more carefully and weigh in later.