15 Detroit Fire Companies closing, nearly 200 demotions

[jcdfde5]

The thing of it is, if Police are cut, you can hire a private security firm. It's not quite the same, but if the security helps to deter crime, then it's effective. If the city-run EMS service is failing, you can outsource to a private ambulance company to do runs in the city. Last I checked, there isn't a readily available supply of private fire engine operators just waiting to get a chance to put fires out in Detroit. The mower gang can cut grass when the city won't. The rent-a-cop can patrol the streets when there aren't enough police. I hope the homeowner garden-hose squad has their spigots at the ready.

What is happening at these "Closed" firehouses regarding scrapping is just disgusting. The FOX article made it sound like no firehouses were officially closing, more that a certain number would go unstaffed on any one day, on a rotating basis. Unfortunately, their placement around the city doesn't allow the city to staff all engine-only companies, while temporarily shutting down the engines that share a firehouse with a ladder, battalion, or medic unit also based there, essentially keeping all buildings occupied and off the radar of the scrappers. Is the city really not shutting any specific engines down, or is the Fox article incorrect? If they are, does anyone know which ones are on the chopping block?

Engine 33 in Southwest
Engine 5 in midtown
Engine 8 Downtown
Ladder 10 Mt elliot Gratiot [[oldest active in State 1892)
HazMat Eastern market
Ladder 1 Eastern Market
Engine 32 Eastside
Engine 38 Eastside
Engine 46 Eastside

Just to name a few it changes everyday.
The rig is left in the building along with a few lights on just to keep the citizens feeling safe... Look in the parking lots [[no Cars)


That Detroit won this $22.5 million grant is good news, but the city needs to constantly be applying for additional funding to keep staffing where it needs to be and to keep equipment and property in good repair. The city can't fund all of that? FINE. Then they need to spend the money to pay people who know what they're doing to try to win them the money.

A person may get robbed, or their property broken into, but they still may decide to stay in Detroit. If their property has a significant fire or burns to the ground, they're gone. Detroit may be a wreck of itself but in a few places, things are either stable or on the upswing. Cutting the FD to half a shoestring is not going to convince anyone that their future, money, or time should be invested in Detroit.

-Rocko, who visited Detroit last week for the first time in 9 months since officially moving to Connecticut.

Our Commissioner is from California..
I believe he thinks leaving the houses empty with half a million dollar rigs and copper gutters that it will not be vandalized..

Sad part is that when the hot water tank/plumbing is gone its going to cost big money to open the house again.. After the experiment!!

[Rocko]

I'm not sure if anyone actually posted about the $$22.5 million grant the city is receiving regarding the FD: so here is the Free Press article about it:

Detroit Fire Department gets $22.5-million grant to preserve jobs

July 7, 2012

Nearly two weeks after Detroit announced it would lay off 164 firefighters because of budget issues, Fire Department officials received a $22.5-million federal grant check on Friday that will restore 108 firefighters.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat, presented the check from the Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response [[SAFER) program to Detroit Fire Commissioner Donald Austin.

Clarke also announced he was working directly with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite the payment of the grant to avoid layoffs, which were expected to take place by the end of the month.

Austin said he still has to formally accept the grant.
"This is probably the best news I've had since I've been here," Austin said after receiving the check. "This is going to be the beginning of a lot of change that will help the city and the residents and certainly the members of my department."

The grant will cover the salaries and benefits for the firefighters over two years. Austin said the department is also applying for another SAFER grant that has a filing deadline of July 16 and the Assistance to Firefighters grant that was filed Friday.

"Our goal is to get them an additional award that could be released as early as September so that the remainder of those firefighters that are slated for layoffs can be able to stay on the job," Clarke said.

The administration, Austin said, was in the process of identifying who would be laid off.

"There are 56 that will have to be laid off," Austin said. "But that number is shrinking every day because we have people that are actually separating."

The grant, Austin said, makes up a little more than 5% of the department's budget.

Read Full article >>http://www.freep.com/article/20120707/NEWS01/207070367/Detroit-Fire-Department-gets-36-22-5-million-grant-to-preserve-jobs?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Contact Melanie Scott Dorsey: 313-222-6159 ormdscott@freepress.com