Detroit firefighters ordered off ladders on aerial trucks

I guess we shoulda leased away Belle Isle!Detroit firefighters ordered off ladders on aerial trucks; fleet hasn't been inspected in years

THE DETROIT FREE PRESS FEB. 4, 2013

Detroit firefighters will not be allowed on the hydraulic ladders on the department's fleet of aerial trucks unless there is an "immediate threat to life" because the trucks haven't undergone safety inspections for years.

Fire Commissioner Donald Austin said firefighters will not be allowed on the ladders during water tower operations until the needed inspections are done.

Austin said the impact on fighting fires will be minimal, but the head of the firefighters union disagreed.

"What this means is, it greatly complicates our work, and it really makes it difficult for any fire that's over a couple stories high," said Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit firefighters union. "It minimizes our ability to put the fire out and also minimizes us to be safe as we're doing ventilation and rescue operations."

Link to full article

Well we could have had 6.1 million extra dollars to use but our great Council people felt it was in their best interest to tell Snyder to go pound sand regarding Belle Isle

Let's get real here.

Regardless on where you stand with the Belle Isle lease, the fact of the matter is that $6.1 Million Dollars would keep Detroit running for MAYBE two weeks.

It's not like the 3rd world level of services and equipment will all drastically improve if this money was freed up, despite all of the increasingly silly rhetoric that reeks of bitterness.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

Let's get real here.

Regardless on where you stand with the Belle Isle lease, the fact of the matter is that $6.1 Million Dollars would keep Detroit running for MAYBE two weeks.

It's not like the 3rd world level of services and equipment will all drastically improve if this money was freed up, despite all of the increasingly silly rhetoric that reeks of bitterness.

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Except that we're talking $6.1 million per year, over 10 years, with option to renew. $6.1 million won't do it, but a $150 million, 3 mile choo-choo, will?

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Except that we're talking $6.1 million per year, over 10 years, with option to renew. $6.1 million won't do it, but a $150 million, 3 mile choo-choo, will?

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For the record, I also think the 3-Mile Trolley is going to be a waste of money.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

For the record, I also think the 3-Mile Trolley is going to be a waste of money.

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It wasn't aimed @ you specifically. And I almost agree. It WILL be a money maker for Ilitch and friends who have a vested interest in the area, as the story unfolds, @ the taxpayers expense.

6.1 Million dollars could fix a whole lot of fire trucks in two weeks. It was not my intent to say the money would keep Detroit running. At this rate it will take a miracle to keep Detroit running.

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

It wasn't aimed @ you specifically. And I almost agree. It WILL be a money maker for Ilitch and friends who have a vested interest in the area, as the story unfolds, @ the taxpayers expense.

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I expect it to turn out just a bit better than The People Mover.

The purpose of mass transit is to transport people who live long distances from one place to another. Downtown/Midtown will have nowhere near the critical mass to support this trolley on its own [[at least for a while) nor does the trolley have lines that feed into it, which discourages the riders who would normally want to use it from using it.

For the record i am not bitter over the Belle Isle decision. I am bitter over the fact a once great city i grew up in and spend time in is going down the drain.

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Originally Posted by hhockey

For the record i am not bitter over the Belle Isle decision. I am bitter over the fact a once great city i grew up in and spend time in is going down the drain.

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Well rest assured, regardless of what happens with Belle Isle, things ain't getting better for most of us in this city a year later after this Consent Agreement was signed.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

Well rest assured, regardless of what happens with Belle Isle, things ain't getting better for most of us in this city a year later after this Consent Agreement was signed.

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And nothing WILL get better as long as any effort made is met with resistance.

So DFD has stated if there are more than a couple large fires they won't be able to respond to anything else, they have stated that they pretty much ignore/forgot to do inspections.

I appreciate they are underfunded and undermanned but why isn't the media asking what they did with $183MM last year and what they intend to do with $160MM this year?

So, it appears that with $160MM and over 1,200 employees they [[a) can't maintain equipment [[b) can't maintain/check hydrants [[not sure if this is their job) [[c) can't respond to more than a couple fires/emergencies at a time.

Something just isn't adding up to me unless there are hundreds of management employees that aren't doing anything, work rules are out of control or the department [[at the leadership level) is completely incompetent.

I'd be more receptive to all these stories if I knew what we were getting in return. It's like the DoD budget where there is no accountability because nobody should dare question the funding and competency of a necessary function like DFD, DPD, DoD, etc

PS - I want to make it clear that I have a great deal of respect for the DFD employees that are fighting fires and risking lives on a daily basis.

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Originally Posted by jt1

PS - I want to make it clear that I have a great deal of respect for the DFD employees that are fighting fires and risking lives on a daily basis.

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Agreed, but you do raise some good points. Accountability doesn't seem to be one of Detroit's strong points.

It's nice of the US taxpayers to fund a federal grant to the Detroit FD after years of mismanagement, just like the same people funded and took a bath with GM and probably Chrysler. Most fire departments around the country rely and chicken plate dinner sales and other types of fundraising to keep things running.

What does this do to insurance rates?

Insurance rates on homeowners policies have doubled in the past year. Like him or nor, Charlie LeDuff had a recent feature on the AM segment of Fox News. Quoted the Detroit response times figures from the Wahington based group who follows these things. Detroit is pretty low on the rung. Quoted a woman whose basic homeowners insurance was upped $2,000 annually. Agents reply was the insurance company's exposure was greater due to the perceived lag in response time.

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Originally Posted by Not In MI

It's nice of the US taxpayers to fund a federal grant to the Detroit FD after years of mismanagement, just like the same people funded and took a bath with GM and probably Chrysler. Most fire departments around the country rely and chicken plate dinner sales and other types of fundraising to keep things running.

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You honestly believe that FDs throughout the country don't get massive grants? Good to know, now we can discuss me selling you the Ambassador bridge.