Detroit Fire Department ran out of rigs to respond to emergencies; 3 firefighters injured
It was a frigid, frustrating and overwhelming 14 hours for Detroit’s exhausted firefighters.
Strong winds left Detroit without adequate fire protection
We monitored all 116 fire calls from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., finding lagging response times and overwhelmed fire crews.
City failed miserably to protect residents from downed power lines during windy, icy night
On one of the windiest, iciest nights in Detroit in over a year, the city had just one Public Lighting Department crew overnight to handle countless downed, sparking power lines and fallen street lights spread across 139 square miles.
Detroit, DTE failed to protect residents from downed power lines, fires
Many live lines snaked unattended across streets, fields and sidewalks for more than an hour because neither the fire department nor DTE had sufficient resources to handle the hazards.