Pitiful! What happens when firefighters have no working hydrants or water pressure

By Steve Neavling
Motor City Muckraker

Hydrant after hydrant failed to provide adequate water pressure as firefighters tried to contain a blaze in the ornate Glen-Villa Apartments in Highland Park on Saturday afternoon.

For hours, flames moved across the 68-unit apartment until it was gutted.

When Detroit and Highland Park firefighters found working hydrants, the water pressure was often so low that it was useless.

Check out our one-year investigation of bad hydrants in Detroit.

The third-alarm blaze required so many Detroit firefighters that most of the city was unprotected. One Detroit firefighter was injured.

While firefighters were at the Highland Park fire, a blaze broke out in a house at Lindsay Street and Fargo Avenue on the northwest side, killing a 7-month-old girl, Michaela.

Although some firefighters from the northwest side were at the Highland Park blaze, Squad 1 was nearby and arrived four minutes after the call. Neighbors and firefighters tried to rescue the child, but the house was engulfed.

Another civilian died Saturday afternoon from carbon-monoxide poisoning on the northwest side.

Shortly before 7:30 p.m., a Detroit firefighter was injured after he was overcome with smoke. He was still in serious condition Sunday evening.

Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck have an automatic mutual-aid agreement to assist each other with firefighting. For every nine fires that Highland Park responds outside its borders, Detroit responds to one in Highland Park.

  DWSD, fire, Highland Park, hydrants, third alarm, water pressure

Steve Neavling

Steve Neavling lives and works in Detroit as an investigative journalist. His stories have uncovered corruption, led to arrests and reforms and prompted FBI investigations.

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