Detroit fire department overwhelmed as winds spread fire across city

High winds ripped through Detroit yesterday, dropping tree limbs on power lines and sparking fires that burned down dozens of homes.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Detroit Fire Department, which has been trimmed by recent budget cuts, had inadequate equipment and manpower to respond to the quickly the spreading fires.

Detroit Fire Capt. Dan McNamara told the Free Press that his department was forced to appeal to nearby Warren and Harper Woods communities for help after every available Detroit firefighter was deployed.

“We’ve had aid before, just to help out in a specific area, but this time is different. We don’t have anyone available,” said [McNamara], a 33-year veteran of the department who is president of the Detroit Firefighters Association. “It used to be we could throw enough resources to knock something big down and work our way into it. The day of reckoning has come.”

Though the city does not have enough fire trucks, McNamara said the main concern is the city doesn’t have the firefighters to staff them. Eight or nine fire companies out of 65 are shut down each day, he said.

The union has 988 members who are firefighters, down about 200 since 2004, and it includes another 100 or so employees in arson, fire inspection, training and community education whose ranks also have been severely trimmed, McNamara said.

“I hope this opens the city and the fire department’s eyes,” McNamara said. “To have a city that people want to live in, you have to have public safety.”

Detroit has lost 60 percent of its population of the last four decades and Mayor Dave Bing is advocating consolidating city neighborhoods so that the city can deliver services more efficiently.