Two of Des Moines' western suburbs are joining forces to provide faster response times in emergency situations. Waukee's fire department is now the first to respond to emergencies in portions of far western Clive. The Clive City Council approved a formal agreement between the agencies Thursday, but the two have been sharing services for a few months. The two-year agreement comes as suburban fire departments try to tackle an explosive increase in calls for service with limited resources — all while trying to keep response times low. "This is a means to cut down on our response times to get aid to people in the far northwest area of the community, and it gives us time to explore various collaborative efforts," said Clive City Manager Dennis Henderson. Fire chiefs in Clive, Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines have discussed plans to consolidate resources. Plans could include sharing fire stations and equipment, though those are far into the future. They could also include a "closest-unit response" model in which the station nearest to a call for service would be the first on scene, no matter the department. Henderson said Clive and Urbandale plan to hire a consultant this summer to study fire and EMS services in each of their cities. The consultant will also investigate a collaborative department between the two cities. "This buys us some time to get that pulled together so we know what direction we’re going with things," he said.