The monumental task of reforming the beleaguered Detroit Fire Department is now in the hands of a former assistant police chief with managerial prowess but no experience fighting fires.
Fire Commissioner Edsel Jenkins is on his way out.
In a city that is large enough to fit Boston, Manhattan and San Francisco, it’s not easy for Detroit workers to find – and fix – thousands of problems that exist in many long-neglected neighborhoods.
When firefighters dash into burning houses and buildings to rescue people and knock down fires, they wear high-pressure air bottles to breathe.
Of the 148 dispensaries, 59 are within 1,000 feet of an active school.
Firefighters are forced to rely on noncompliant hoses, engine pumps, air bottles, self-contained respirators, pressurized extinguishers and aerial and ground ladders.
Gary Brown is a former police officer who entered politics after winning part of an $8.4 million whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
In just five days, two people died in separate house fires after Detroit firefighters were delayed by a malfunctioning alert system.
The slab of concrete, however, didn’t fetch as much as expected.
Removing the gallery from the Packard Plant stirred controversy in 2010.