Fires burn throughout Detroit: Residents hold energy giant responsible

[Hannah Bell]

Firefighters were brought in from the surrounding cities of Harper Woods, Warren, Dearborn, Grosse Pointe and Highland Park, the first time the city called in outside firefighters since the 1967 riots. Residents and firemen said that the majority of the fires were caused by downed electrical wiring. According to residents, DTE, the city’s main electrical company, failed to respond in a timely manner to complaints about the failure of the electrical infrastructure.

A total of 85 structures caught fire after heavy winds downed over 700 power lines, according to statements by Detroit Fire Commissioner James Mack and DTE officials. The largest fire, which destroyed at least a dozen houses, took place on Robinwood Street on the city’s East Side. The blaze was apparently set off when a power line or transformer, which had been shooting sparks for days, ignited and set fire to a garage.

Shirley and J.T. Hargrave, who owned the home where the transformer was located, had been calling DTE since Friday. The company refused to send a technician, they said, telling the family to “call 911” if there was a fire... “We’ve been calling every day for the past five days; we called four times on Tuesday,” said Mary, pointing to the ruins of her family’s garage and the smoldering roof of her parents’ house. “It almost makes me ashamed to say I live in Detroit,” she said.

Residents noted that while DTE ignored their pleas to fix malfunctioning equipment and downed lines, the company spared no expense and never delayed responding if a worker failed to pay the energy giant’s exorbitant bills. “They’ll come out here the next day if you can’t pay,” one resident said.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing characterized the fire as a “natural disaster”—caused by winds up to 50mph—which could not be predicted. “The naysayers say there is not enough equipment and manpower. But there is no way you can appropriately plan for a natural disaster,” he said. This claim is aimed at exonerating the role of DTE and the mayor’s administration, which has conducted a non-stop campaign of budget reductions and wage-cutting against city workers, including firefighters, since taking office.

Responding to the mayor’s claims, Daniel McNamara, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association, told the WSWS, “That’s simply not the case. This is a four-season state; we’ve had natural disasters for centuries; hail storms, wind storms, lightning and snow storms. But this is the first time that we haven’t been able to respond to an incident.” “We simply don’t have the people,” McNamara said, adding that the ranks of firefighters were 200-300 short to adequately protect the population. “They’ve run our fire companies down to a level that’s abysmal,” he said. “We’ve been warning them about this for decades. We’ve told the city that this day was going to come, and here we are.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/fire-s09.shtml

[madrchsod]

1. third world america......

[bread_and_roses]

2. Welcome to Third-World America - where public workers

are vilified, public budgets are savaged, public safety is sacrificed, infrastructure is crumbling, services are savaged, and Corporate Vampires suck "profits" off the citizenry while collecting tax breaks for merely existing and are permitted to ignore even basic maintenance.

Oh, and btw....Bing is a Democrat

from same link: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/fire-s09.shtml

... “The naysayers say there is not enough equipment and manpower. But there is no way you can appropriately plan for a natural disaster,” he said.

This claim is aimed at exonerating the role of DTE and the mayor’s administration, which has conducted a non-stop campaign of budget reductions and wage-cutting against city workers, including firefighters, since taking office...

... Over the last three decades an average of one company per year has been eliminated. In 2004, there were about 1,300 firefighters in the city, the union spokesman said. Now there are 500 positions, with 20 unfilled, according to Fire Commissioner James Mack. There has not been a full new class of firefighters for six years...

... The city of Detroit regularly “browns out” or temporarily shuts down, up to twelve of its fire stations every day due to budget cuts. Of the 65 fire companies in the city, 7 were “browned out” on Tuesday, leaving 58 in service. Among the browned out fire stations was the one closest to the fire on the northeast side.

and of course, blame the poor:

For its part, DTE quickly sought to blame Detroit residents for the fires, citing “energy theft”—in which desperate residents cut off from utilities attempt to restore heat and electricity through unauthorized hookups. “We know that there have been … instances of energy theft in the area, and there always is the potential for falling power lines and other dangerous situations as people tap into the electrical system,” the company said in a statement. After a spate of deaths caused by fires in homes that had had their utilities shut off this winter, DTE similarly sought to blame “energy theft.”

(edit to add bolding)

[burnsei sensei]

3. So how many people are without power

as a result of this?
How long have they been without power?
Much about buildings.
Little about people.
This is a crime against humanity, and the nation is indifferent.

[Starry Messenger]

4. .

[reggie the dog]

5. sounds to me like the energy company does not invest in infrastructure

is this one of those utilities which used to be public but is now private and charges higher rates and pays its workers lower salaries than when it was public yet has no money for infrastructure because "investors" had to be paid dividends???