BATON ROUGE — The Baton Rouge Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board has taken a contentious first step toward a possible merger of EMS with the city’s fire department by changing the job description of the Baton Rouge Fire Chief, a position currently held by Mike Kimble.
The board voted unanimously to give the fire chief authority over the EMS division. This follows a temporary restraining order issued August 20, 2025, against Chief Kimble and the board. However, the order against the board was dissolved on August 25, allowing members to move forward with the vote.
State Examiner Adrienne Bordelon said this classification change is necessary to even consider combining the departments…