Detroit Fire Department

Department Leadership in the 2010s

From 2011 to December 31, 2013, the Detroit Fire Department was led by Fire Commissioner Donald R. Austin, a former member of the Los Angeles Fire Department and a Detroit native. Under Mayor Dave Bing, Austin had come to Detroit in May 2011 on the difficult mission to bring change to the Detroit Fire Department. He resigned in November 2013 due to changes in city administration.

The new mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, named Jonathan Jackson, a 25-year veteran of the department, and a Second Deputy Fire Commissioner under Austin, as the Interim Fire Commissioner on December 23, 2013. Craig Dougherty, a former member of Engine 50 on the city's East Side and Fire Chief under Austin, became a Second Deputy Commissioner under Jackson. The administration was rounded out by Deputy Commissioner Edsel Jenkins, C.P.A., Second Deputy Commissioner Sydney Zack, LL.M., and Second Deputy Commissioner Orlando Gregory.

By the end of March 2014, Commissioner Jackson resigned due to a life-threatening neural disease. On April 8, 2014, Deputy Commissioner Edsel Jenkins was named as the new Executive Fire Commissioner. He resigned in October 2015, and was succeeded in office by Eric Jones.

Budget Crisis of the 2010s

As of January 2011, in an effort to reduce costs, the city of Detroit was considering privatizing the Fire Department's EMS Division.

Budget cuts led to the Chief of Department closing a total of 10 Engine and 4 Ladder Companies, effective July 4, 2012. Also 200 firefighters and officers were to be demoted and around 150 laid off initially, with more than 100 to be re-hired as funds were to become available. In addition to the 14 permanently closed companies, a number of units were placed out of service ("browned out") on a daily basis. As a consequence, the standard response to a structural fire was reduced by one engine to 2 engines, 1 ladder, 1 squad and 1 chief.

At the beginning and into the first half of 2013, apparatus availability was at a low point. An estimated 40 units remained in service, with all three aerial platform trucks damaged or defective, and up to eight engine and seven ladder companies browned out. At the end of January 2013, the entire fleet of aerial ladder trucks was found lacking certification for routine operations.

The City of Detroit declared bankruptcy in July 2013.

By 2014, the established practice of using improvised tools like soda pop cans, doorbells, door hinges or pipes to alert firefighters of incoming alarm faxes made national news. Merely 48 pieces of apparatus were available for service, down from 66 in the year 2010. A number of ladder trucks continued to be pressed into service without working aerials.

Post-bankruptcy

In December 2014, the City of Detroit emerged from bankruptcy protection. Funds for replacement and maintenance of parts of the aging fleet and facilities were included with the new budget. Mutual aid arrangements with fire departments in the two enclaves, the cities of Highland Park and Hamtramck, were formalized in October 2014.

In 2015, with a first batch of ten new fire engines going in service, previously browned out Engine Company 32 was reopened. New vehicles bolstered the fleet available to EMS and for fire investigators.

Following 2012's reduction, the standard assignment to a structure fire was again increased to 3 Engines, 1 Truck, 1 Squad and 1 Chief. In 2016, an expanded type of first alarm assignment called Commercial Box Alarm was introduced to better handle fires in structures bigger than a standard dwelling. Six new fire engines were placed in service in 2016, one of them replacing the Quint at Engine Company 48, plus reinstating Ladder Company 13 as a permanently staffed unit.

Fire Activity and Investigation

The city of Detroit has to cope with a large number of fires. The amount of vacant buildings throughout the city, combined with a dire economic situation, resulted in numerous fires on a daily basis. About 85% of the fires that occur daily in Detroit occur in vacant homes and buildings. In 2011 alone, the DFD responded to over 9,000 working structural fires.

Numbers of fires per year declined subsequently, with 4,600 structure fires in 2014 and 3,700 in 2015. On average, Detroit firefighters attended to 11 to 16 fires per day in 2015.

A large number of these fires are believed to be "incendiary" (or arson), far above the national average of about 7.8%. In the early 2010s, there were no accurate statistics for determining the arson rate in Detroit due to the fact that only a fraction of the fires could be investigated by the limited resources of the DFD Arson Unit. Only fire scenes which have been investigated can be ruled as incendiary or arson fires. Those fires which have not been investigated must be classified as "undetermined" unless an investigation is completed.

It should be noted that an "Incendiary Fire" is a technical definition for "a fire that is deliberately set with the intent to cause a fire to occur in an area where the fire should not be". "Arson" is and a statutory definition for a criminal offense. There are occasions where a fire may be "incendiary", but not meet the threshold of "arson".

Operations

The Detroit Fire Department is divided into 10 divisions of operations: Administration, Apparatus, Communications, Community Relations, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Firefighting/Fire Suppression, Fire Marshal, Medical, Research and Development, and Training Academy.

Emergency Medical Services

The Detroit Fire Department operates a separate EMS Division. In September 2013, AED devices were put in service on the fire apparatuses as a first step into performing life support to citizens as first responders. As of 2015, Detroit firefighters are trained medical first responders and have the ability to handle patient care until EMS arrives.

The EMS division operates with limited manpower. As a result, many calls are handled by DFD until a unit is available. The availability of EMS units is often compromised due to the amount of calls in a city which has a lot of violence, as well as the breaking down of the EMS rigs due to age, mileage, and lack of proper maintenance.

Thanks to Mayor Bing's collaboration with the business community, Roger Penske sponsored 23 new ambulances for the department, which were put into service in the summer of 2013. Many of these, however, soon developed defects. More new ambulances were purchased throughout the following years.

Fire Apparatus

In December 2013, there were a total of 34 fire stations in the city of Detroit, including the Fire Headquarters. They are organized into 8 battalions, each headed by one Battalion Chief per shift.

The following companies remain "browned out":

For the year 2017, six new Squad trucks, several rearmount ladder trucks, and a number of Light and Air units are scheduled to enter service.

Rank structure

Below is the rank structure of the Detroit Fire Department.