Firehouses

**cosine** · September-27-09, 06:26 PM

Tony--my bad. I get so excited about firehouses I forget whether its "engine" or "ladder" sometimes. It's Ladder 5 on Russell...probably because in 1883 all we had were horse drawn wagons with ladders and there were no engines. Are you going to the annual breakfast ceremony at Cobo Hall this year to honor the DFD?

**TONY BOX 42** · September-27-09, 09:30 PM

Cosine, Before the old man turns in, a little history lesson. First off I went by E.2 tonight.
You are correct. Work is being done on the interior. I was pleasently surprised
to see the tiles on the apparatus floor were in tact as was all of the original wood paneling. The Larned side entrance is now a single door with stone siding on the second door.
I think one of the Packard squads ran out of that door. Not sure of that.L.20 runs
with E.5. See post#117. Now for your history lesson. Engine companies were two
piece. A steamer and a hose wagon.If you ever get a chance to see the complete
photo of the last run of the horses the hose wagon is close behind.. Horse drawn ladders were long and narrow and ran alone.E.6 started at High Street [[ Vernor) and Russell.
Moved to High Street Hastings.South end of the market.L.5 was at Russell and Calhoun[[Erskine). North end of the market.The shops were behind L.5.The classic photo of
the spare Arhens Foxs' was taken there. In1956 the new shops were built. The Russell side is a
four bay house. E.6,L.5 . moved in together .Ch.3 and Sq. 2 ran there for a time. The Civil Defense rig a Hose Wagon and a Foam rig also ran there. E.6 and L.5 have been out of service for some time. HAZ MAT 1 and 2 the Decon Rig and L.1 run there now . L.1 is out of service on a daily basis, manpower.Medic 8 also runs there.Thanks to Clarence Woodard, Matt Lee ,Dan Jasina and Richard Lancaster for allowing me to steal all of there hard work and research to make it look like I know what I am talking about. How do you spell plagiarism ?
I will not make Breakfast With A Firefighter this year.My loss.

**Rocko** · September-27-09, 10:37 PM

Somehow I had not previously made the connection that when the SW Public Safety Center opened on Fort Street, the enginehouse on Junction near Holy Redeemer closed up. I took a spin by the old 27/8 house today on Junction, shame to see it's already been hit by graffiti and the weeds are getting pretty tall. Anyone want to grab a can of red paint and paint over the graffiti on the front bay doors? It's really too bad, as another old firehouse is slowly biting the dust.

**Dfd** · September-28-09, 02:42 PM

Hi Everyone.
I finally got a program to transfer my old videos into the computer. I transfered some Detroit stuff from a visit there in 1999. Here are the youtube links. More to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYfP7Bv20S0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egFVG-cY1MU

**Dfd** · September-28-09, 03:27 PM

Here is FD Headquarters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOJ_HhVTGw

**Dfd** · September-29-09, 02:02 AM

Here is Eng 5 and Ladder 20 responding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqncKV2GSsY

**Lansingfire** · September-29-09, 10:02 AM

Ah yes the old Bread truck squads in the Eng 23 video.

**Meddle** · September-29-09, 10:23 PM

I haven't watched the video, are you talking about the GMCs? Remember the Gerstenschlagers?

**TONY BOX 42** · October-03-09, 09:25 PM

I haven't watched the video. The original "Pie Wagon " or "Bread Trucks" were Chevy Boyertons.Next batch were Chevy Utilimasters.The" Gerts" were on G.M.C. , Ford and Dodge chassis.From Matt Lees' apparatus history.

**TONY BOX 42** · October-03-09, 09:48 PM

Rocko: E.27's quarters was a real old time nieghborhood fire house.The SWPSC reminds me of a quick change oil shop.

**Meddle** · October-05-09, 05:39 AM

What is this '30 minute rehab' crap after they clear a run? When did they become entitled to go out of service and goof around? You get another run, you take another run. You don't like it, go to work for Burger King.

I can remember many times when companies would go from run to run to run all night long.

**7051** · October-05-09, 08:18 AM

Unfortunately, going from run to run all those years only helped the city continue to cut our manpower and shorten your life and retirement years. They might as well cut us down as the fires still go out and we just keep working harder and harder. Hell, why not cut us to 500 from the current 1,100, or the 1,350 we had 5 years ago, or the 1,850 you had years ago when you went from "run to run"!

Take a look at what other big cities fd's have done over the last 30 years. Many have been doing some kind of "rehab" after fires and therefore, made it much harder for their city administrators to cut numbers. Hell, FDNY "taps out" after after a fire in a shift - they go off duty and an OT is created!! In fact, you are looked down upon there if you don't go off after a fire as you are cutting into job security and OT. And they still have the same 11,500 guys they had back in the early seventies!
Time and time again we have other big city firefighters here visiting and they are amazed at the work load we do per person. They say they admire us, but sometimes I think they think we are a bunch of idiots for busting our ass as much as we do and consequently, the incredibly high injury rate we have [[75% of the time for a vacant piece of garbage).

**7051** · October-05-09, 08:22 AM

In addition, the law provides for a rehab period after a fire. A period that in many big cities equals an hour or more [[time for a shower and a quick rehydration). Our little 15 or 30 minutes is comparitively still a joke as far as other big city fd's are concerned.

**Meddle** · October-05-09, 09:58 AM

They used to do that on scene before going back in service. Take a short break, stick your head under a red line, take a few gulps and you're ready to go.

**Ray1936** · October-05-09, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by Dfd

Here is FD Headquarters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOJ_HhVTGw

What the.......???? You mean FD HQ doesn't even house one lousy engine any more? What is the building used for?

**Meddle** · October-05-09, 10:35 AM

They pulled the rigs out of there 15 years ago or so. The apparatus bay is an indoor parking lot for the muckety-mucks. The upper floors are offices for Administration, Fire Marshals, Arson, etc.

**Meddle** · October-06-09, 02:27 AM

It really sounds like the lawyers and bureaucrats have been too involved. I've never heard any department say things like "Primary search has been completed" when clearing a scene.

**Detroit Signal** · October-06-09, 10:33 PM

Found some pics while rummaging through my archives and thought I'd share

1. Fire on Vinewood near the Boulevard during summer of 2008

2. Day after Piquette Studebaker fire

3. Engine 23 Squad 3 in 2008

4. Pair of 1930's GE Novaluxes that disappeared [[windstorm/city removal, etc??) during 2007 in front of E23/S3. They were the oldest signals left in service within the city limits until they disappeared along with one of the overhead signals.

**redfordsinner** · October-08-09, 12:44 AM

Hello everybody, just wondering if anyone would be interested in getting a group together to go fire buffing in Detroit the week of Halloween? I'm still a little green when it comes to buffing out of eng. 54/55/57's area and would like to get some good footage and pics. Anybody???

Kevin

**Meddle** · October-11-09, 03:44 AM

3 house fires tonight [[so far) close to each other, one Nottingham & Frankfort, one at Somerset & Frankfort and one at Somerset & Cornwall.

04:55 Back to another one at Nottingham & Frankfort.

I thought they solved this type of problem around the end of October?

05:31 Another one at Beaconsfield & Bremen.

05:54 Believe it or not, one more at Beaconsfield & Windsor, called in by Ch 6 at the previous one. Turns out to be 2 dwellings.

06:15 Next up, Barham & Waveny, called in by Sq 6.

06:26 One more at Lakepointe & Waveny, called in by Sq3 from Barham

06:33 Another at Beaconsfield & Mack

**Meddle** · October-11-09, 07:08 AM

And it continues. Another one at Balfour & Munich.

I think I missed a couple too; the web scanner link was acting flaky and disconnecting.

Buy American · October-11-09, 11:05 AM

The mindset that some people have is handed down from generation to generation. Their relatives all set fires so now it's their turn. This all really came to a head in 1984 when just before Halloween about 800 fires were set by the very people who lived in Detroit. It made huge headlines and has been perpetuated ever since. I could never figure out why someone wants to burn the very place they live in.

Now, however, the politicians know how to "count" the fires. Rubbish fires, car fires, dumpster fires and some others are not reported in the "count". Therefore, the numbers have gone down but in reality have not.

The Detroit Firefighters have a thankless job as well. The City certainly doesn't help them by providing proper equipment. When a Detroit firefighter has to buy his own batteries for his work flashlight because the City won't provide them, that's bad. Then, the City asks them to go out every day and night and risk their lives over fires that have been purposely set...something is wrong with this picture.

I say, if the house is abandoned, let it burn. If the building is abandoned, let it burn. Actually, it's a favor to the City to get rid of these eyesores and dangerous places and it keeps our firefighters safe.

**jcole** · October-11-09, 11:38 AM

I say, if the house is abandoned, let it burn. If the building is abandoned, let it burn. Actually, it's a favor to the City to get rid of these eyesores and dangerous places and it keeps our firefighters safe.

The problem with allowing abandoned buildings to burn is the inhabited buildings in proximity. You would still have to have firefighters on site to control the burn so it wouldn't pass to any inhabited place. You also don't want the fire to pass to the wooded phone and electrical poles and take out power to the area.

Buy American · October-11-09, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

The problem with allowing abandoned buildings to burn is the inhabited buildings in proximity. You would still have to have firefighters on site to control the burn so it wouldn't pass to any inhabited place. You also don't want the fire to pass to the wooded phone and electrical poles and take out power to the area.

Thank you for pointing those problems out, however, I understand the problems that could occur in letting abandoned buildings and homes burn. I wasn't proposing to "just let them burn" without proper supervision...my concern is sending in firefighters to fight the fire from within when a home or building has been abandoned and the floors, stairways, and ceilings are compromised because of lack of care and has a rotten foundation. The potential for a firefighter falling through a floor, falling down stairways with missing stairs or having a ceiling fall in on them is very high in those types of dwellings.

**jcole** · October-11-09, 02:22 PM

I don't know the legalities here, but if the city doesn't hold title to a property and it shows on the books as being owned by someone even though abandoned, what would the repercussions be in just letting it burn down? I know that there could be repercussions for whomever owns it, too, for walking away but I'm just concerned if the owners could sue. I think that one of the reason a lot of the abandoned houses can't be torn down. They're not owned by the city.
Also, abandoned buildings are considered an attractive nuisance where you may have children who went inside to smoke or drink, or there may be homeless living in the building.