Huge fire at Packard Plant

**mauser** · June-12-10, 01:12 PM

Huge fire at Packard Plant - photos:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4509

Started Friday evening, still burning now. Three floors with flames and collapsing sections on the street below.

**DetroitZack** · June-12-10, 01:20 PM

Good lord, people are a holes

**Lowell** · June-12-10, 01:21 PM

Great pics Mauser, as always!

**Danny** · June-12-10, 01:24 PM

Cause by squatters, cause by those who really want the building demolished or cause by some scam artist to make a false insurance report that their so-called property was on fire.

**Goose** · June-12-10, 03:52 PM

good pics.... what is burning in there, from what i could see its mostly concrete and steel.....

**DetroitZack** · June-12-10, 04:10 PM

I watched/photographed from about 3:30-4:30 today. Some of it was still burning, at one point I saw 3 separate fires in the same little area. Going to head back tomorrow to get more shots.

**mauser** · June-12-10, 07:26 PM

There are a lot of plastics on the upper floors in that area, you can see the racks through the windows. The old [[south) side has wooden window panes, and that is what you see producing actual flame as they burn off.

**mauser** · June-12-10, 08:04 PM

Goose - Click these two links to see that top floor in the collapsed area from back in March 2010.

Heres the whole upper floor that is now burnt and collapsed:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/2010image...ackard_001.jpg

And here is an example of plastics that are in that area:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/2010image...ackard_002.jpg

**LeannaM** · June-12-10, 08:13 PM

Why do they let this thing stand while it continues to have fires on what is seemingly a regular basis?

At least the firefighters don't go in there anymore.

**DetroitZack** · June-12-10, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by LeannaM

Why do they let this thing stand while it continues to have fires on what is seemingly a regular basis?

At least the firefighters don't go in there anymore.

Probably because tearing it down would cost a lot of money. Might as well just let the place burn down.

**CLAUDE G** · June-13-10, 02:11 AM

Im glad the DPD doesn't go in there anymore, the place is not worth loosing a life over fighting a fire.

**Meddle** · June-13-10, 02:20 AM

Haven't seen anything on the Freep pages. Must not be news anymore.

**DetroitZack** · June-13-10, 07:04 AM

Claude, I must agree with you. When I was there yesterday someone who came to check it out crossed the caution tape and a fireman came and yelled at them, man was this guy pissed. He said that just recently they found a burned body in there.

Meddle, I was looking for it to be in the Free Press too. I know past fires have made it in there.

**detroiturbex** · June-13-10, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by mauser

Huge fire at Packard Plant - photos:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4509

Started Friday evening, still burning now. Three floors with flames and collapsing sections on the street below.

Great pictures, thanks

**mauser** · June-13-10, 08:16 PM

thanks detroiturbex and lowell -

here are photos from this morning:
http://www.detroitfunk.com/?p=4513

You can see that eastern facade is probably going to fail on the top floors in some spots.

Heres video of the fire from yesterday morning, and from this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duPIbS3HlEA

Nothing too exciting on the video, but you can really see the scale of the destruction.

**mauser** · June-13-10, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Haven't seen anything on the Freep pages. Must not be news anymore.

Well, thing is that the Freep ran with the Banksy thing in the Packard: ARTICLE

And it happens that this birdcage Banksy painting is in the area that is on fire. Probably the wrong time to encourage people to go looking for Banksys in Packard.

**Whitehouse** · June-13-10, 08:34 PM

How many Banksy Murals have been lost?

**CLAUDE G** · June-14-10, 12:37 AM

I went by the Packard plant around 5pm and there was a ladder truck with 2 fire figheters in the bucket spraying water inside the building.

Looks like they refuse to go inside, but where ok spraying water inside through the open windows from the street.

**kathy2trips** · June-14-10, 01:18 AM

Let property owners take responsibility for fencing and securing unoccupied structures, for a change. This is about protecting not only property [[and sometimes fall-on-my-ass great craftsmanship), but people, which is one of the things city governments are supposed to do. What if a fire fighter had been hurt because of trespassers? Or some little kids playing in an unsafe building? Man, talk about a disconnect!

One thing council members need to do is pass an ordinance that mandates that dormant properties are fenced and/or otherwise secured. Give them thirty days to comply, then levy hefty fines, PER DAY if they are not secured. We can use the money, too. If they fail to comply after 90 days, seize the property and sell it at auction. I mean it. The City has the legal right to do that, just like if there were non-payment of property taxes. Why the inertia, I wonder?

**CLAUDE G** · June-14-10, 02:17 AM

The question is enforcement!

First of all, is there really someone paying City of Detroit property taxes on the Packard plant?

Im sure the property taxes are well over $100,000 per year on that property, is there someone out there that is paying that type of money to hold on to an abandoned building?

I think the whole issue here is liability. The city is probably owed millions of dollars in back taxes on this property, but will not seize the property from the owners because then it becomes their problem to secure and eventually demolish, and the city would be responcible for any lawsuits that came from people getting hurt on the property.

Maybe the city should call the same assholes who did the demo at Tiger Stadium and see if they want to demo the Packard plant for free also and let them keep all the concrete and steel and sell it for scrap.

**mauser** · June-14-10, 06:55 AM

Well this is the angle I would love to see the Freep or DetNews run down - WTF is up with these damn OWNERS ? And why why why does the City do noooooooothing about the way they leave their properties wide open ?

WHY is it okay to let things burn with all those fumes blowing through a dozen neighborhoods ? The fire department says it wont enter due to safety, but they sat and stared at the fucker burning for almost three days - all the time within range to dump water into it.

No fines for the owner ? How many fires now with how many tons of tires and plastics etc burned into the local atmosphere ?

Wheres the EPA ? Hazmat ?

Pure insanity.

Toolbox · June-14-10, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by mauser

Well this is the angle I would love to see the Freep or DetNews run down - WTF is up with these damn OWNERS ? And why why why does the City do noooooooothing about the way they leave their properties wide open ?

How about an article on how the city basically stole the building from the past owner.

There were many small businesses operating in the Packard plant until they were driven out by the city. 56packman can fill in the specifics as he was in there when it happened.

**Carey** · June-14-10, 08:41 AM

The Packard plant is a fire-breathing representation of Detroit city hall's rampant impotence. Imagine a derelict plant causing that kind of chaos and siphoning off the services of the fire department -- for days -- in Chicago or New York. Would officials in those cities just sit back and watch the plant become a greater hazard day after day?
Tha Packard has a court-sanctioned owner. He lives in Livingston County. Why can't the city go after him by using ordinances that are already on the books? And that owner, according to the Free Press last year, never has paid any city taxes and has failed to file legal paperwork with the state.
I don't think the plant would be allowed to fester like it does if that neighborhood wasn't filled with desperately poor people with little political clout.

PS: This weekend's fire was in the same spot where a fire burned for a couple days last summer.

**Hermod** · June-14-10, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Carey

The Packard plant is a fire-breathing representation of Detroit city hall's rampant impotence. Imagine a derelict plant causing that kind of chaos and siphoning off the services of the fire department -- for days -- in Chicago or New York. Would officials in those cities just sit back and watch the plant become a greater hazard day after day?
Tha Packard has a court-sanctioned owner. He lives in Livingston County. Why can't the city go after him by using ordinances that are already on the books? And that owner, according to the Free Press last year, never has paid any city taxes and has failed to file legal paperwork with the state.
I don't think the plant would be allowed to fester like it does if that neighborhood wasn't filled with desperately poor people with little political clout.

PS: This weekend's fire was in the same spot where a fire burned for a couple days last summer.

The city can get a judgment against and foreclose on property at anytime for unpaid taxes and unpaid fines. The problem then is that the city becomes the owner which permanently removes the property from the tax rolls. If the property had enough value to overcome its liabilities, the city could then sell it to a new owner. Prospective buyers are far better off to let the city do the required demolition and brownfield remediation and then buy it from the city.

In the same manner, banks don't like to foreclose on condos until they are ready to sell the property. If they foreclose on the condo, they have to begin paying condo fees. By not foreclosing, the unpaid condo fees become the problem of the condo association. When the bank forecloses and sells the property, there is a limit as to the condo fee liability of the bank.

**Danny** · June-14-10, 09:04 AM

The fire at the Packard Plant will be is the longest lasting fire buring and consuming of the 2 mile vacant industrial complex in Detroit's history. The Detroit Fire Dept. will NOT go inside the structure for the floors can collapse anytime. The place is now a death trap for anyone who goes in there.

Dave Bing TEAR DOWN THAT BUILDING NOW!