CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland took the first official step Tuesday toward merging its fire department and Emergency Medical Service, with Mayor Frank Jackson's appointment of Edward J. Eckart, Jr. as assistant director of public safety.

Eckart, formerly the EMS commissioner, will handle details of what the city calls the "integration" of nearly 800 firefighters and 240 EMS workers into a new Division of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Medical Service by the end of 2012.

As envisioned, the combined force would respond as a single unit to emergencies, with firefighters trained as paramedics and vice versa.

So ideally, "whoever responds, that person can do whatever needs to be done to mitigate your emergency," Eckart said. "By bringing the two together we'll have a lot more flexibility, reduce redundancy and be a lot more effective in dealing with all types of emergencies."

Jackson also noted that "anybody who responds will be able to fight a fire or provide a medical service."

He said overall goals of the new integrated department will be improved service and shorter emergency-response times. "Our prediction is that the response time will go down dramatically," he noted.

Jackson said that improved response time will result from medical treatment dispatched as part of crews from the city's neighborhood fire stations, and administered as soon as responders arrive on the scene, instead of waiting for an EMS ambulance.

Jackson said he has asked that the integration be "budget neutral," with no additional costs involved. He added, "our goal is budget neutral, but that is not the driving force. The bottom line is service, not profit."

As part of a morning of appointments that included naming Nicole Carlton, current assistant EMS commissioner, to replace Eckart as acting commissioner, Jackson also noted that Fire Chief Paul Stubbs will be retiring in April.

Jackson said a search for his successor will now include an emphasis on finding someone with both a firefighting and emergency medical service expertise.

At the appointment and swearing-in ceremony at City Hall, Public Safety Director Marty Flask endorsed the integration plan, saying the concept has been debated for the past 20 years. "It's time to stop talking about it, and it's time to go to work," he added.

Eckart said the integration will not involve job cuts. "This isn't about eliminating jobs or displacing people. It's about eliminating redundancy."

Eckart said that now he has been appointed, the next step will be meeting with fire and EMS union officials to work out exact details of the integration.

He noted that several informal meetings have already been held with the unions, and "I don't see anything that's insurmountable."

EMS union chief Stephen Palek said the time for informal discussion has ended, and for collective bargaining to begin --barring approval of Issue 2, which he said would eliminate that possibility.

He, too, was optimistic about the outcome. "We have a unique opportunity here to do something pretty tremendous," he said.

Palek did note that getting patients to trauma centers from the scene of an emergency may still have to be addressed.

"It's a juggling act," he said. "You could have 20 paramedics on the scene but if you don't have a way to get that patient to a trauma center to get the definitive care they need, that's where the juggling is going to come in."

Tom Lally, president of Cleveland Fire Fighters IAFF Local 93, said an integrated fire and EMS service was "a step in the right direction for the city."

Though he suspected that hammering out the details will be "a major undertaking," he noted, "I am very optimistic that this could be worked out and be a great service for the city."