The Ridgway Fire Protection District took its first big step toward potentially consolidating the county’s four separate fire departments and county-wide emergency medical service: hiring consulting law firm Lyons Gaddis to investigate options.

But documents obtained by the Plaindealer leave questions as to when and how the Ridgway Fire District board of directors reached this decision to spend $30,000 to engage the firm, with $20,000 coming from Ridgway and $10,000 from the Ouray Volunteer Fir...