Detroit Fire

[LayTheLine 108]

About a month ago, Detroit was being pounded by heavy rains. I put them on Broadcastify to listen in. They were running trees down, wires down and cars stuck in the flooding underpasses. I looked on the Internet for Detroit Fire to get an idea of what they run. What I found is astounding. Detroit is the arson capital of the world! It's almost like "The Bronx is Burning" back in the '70's & 80's. In a nutshell they have about 5,000 Working Fires or greater each year (that's about 13 a day). That's more than FDNY!! I couldn't believe it. Granted many of their fires are already burned buildings, but I've been listening the last month and they get their share of occupied structure fires & commercial fires. I am not exaggerating when I say that if turn on Broadcastify and listen in, there is either a Working Fire in progress, just ending, or one being dispatched. It's continuous. If this interests you, then read on.

 

The city has 28 Engines, 13 Ladders, 6 Squads, and 8 Battalion Chiefs. Within the city limits the cities of Hamtramck & Highland Park reside. These are two very small cities, both surrounded by Detroit and each is only about 2 square miles. Each city runs an engine and a ladder. They work in conjunction with Detroit and are even dispatched by Detroit. So adding in those two cities, Detroit is covered by 30 Engines, 15 Ladders, 6 Squads & 8 Battalions. I have NO idea how they have so many fires with such a relatively small department. In addition to the structure fires they have daily car fires, dumpster fires and also run first responder on medical calls. I am not sure what their mutual aid agreement is with surrounding cities. The firefighters in Detroit must go to work and expect to be working their whole shift on a daily basis. I'm just guessing but I assume they must rotate people from the quieter companies to the busier companies to keep them fresh. It sounds like everyday would be the equivalent of playing a football game. Again, only a guess, but the average Detroit firefighter probably lasts 20 years and then is completely broken-down and has to retire.

 

I like what they have for radio communications. They have fire dispatch on one frequency and then 8 fireground channels. They assign them by which chief is assigned first due to the box. If Battalion 4 is assigned, they assign Fireground 4. If there is another fire in Battalion 4's area, they just assign a fireground channel to whichever chief is coming in. "Companies responding to Main & Elm switch to Fireground 8 for Battalion 8."  In just a month I've heard numerous Working Fires going on at the same time.

 

There response, from what I can figure out is as follows:

Box Alarm 3 Engines, 1 Ladder, 1 Squad, 1 Battalion

Commercial Box Alarm: 4 Engines, 2 Ladders, 2 Squads, 2 Battalions

2nd Alarm: 3 Engines, 1 Ladder, 1 Squad, 1 Battalion (If it came is as a Box Alarm and they go to a 2nd it sounds like they round out the Commercial Box assignment along with the 2nd Alarm assignment.)

 

Their manning appears to be 4 on an Engine, Ladder, and Squad; however, all those units will drop to 3. So on any given shift Squad 1 may have 4 and Squad 2 may have 3. When they sign on location they'll declared their PAR. "Engine 9 on location, PAR 4." Here's what I don't understand, about 50 percent of the time a unit will sign off and say PAR 3 plus 1 or PAR 2 plus 1 or it may just be PAR 3 or PAR 4. So I don't think it's the number of firefighters plus the officer. All I can think of is that it must be Probies on the rig, which means about 20% of the department must be probies. The whole thing is just mind-boggling and I really can't wrap my brain around it. At busy times they must have 3 or 4 Workers at a time!

 

I'm sure many have heard about Devil's Night in Detroit (Oct. 30th). At one point they were averaging 80 structure fires on that night. I believe last year it was cut down to about 40. Well, Devil's Night is fast approaching and I will be sure to listen in. God Bless the Detroit firefighters and stay safe!

[vodoly 535]

They're pretty busy  out there u tube has some clips of them at work

[COH Bulldog 82]

There's a documentary about the DFD that was done in 2012 called "Burn". I think it's still on Netflix. It details a lot of the hardships these firefighters have to work with. But I think the department is trying to improve its operations to make things better for them since it was released. I highly recommend watching it. This to is mind blowing.