Detroit's cash-strapped firefighters take on arson epidemic
Michael Jefferson has been putting out fires in Detroit for two decades. But he can only watch and wait as the city he loves burns around him.
On Tuesday, Detroit became the largest American city to ever qualify for bankruptcy protection. In the most controversial piece of the decision, Judge Steven W. Rhodes of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruled that retirees’ pension checks could be cut during a bankruptcy proceeding.
“You know people work to live comfortably the rest of their lives,” Jefferson, the captain of Engine Company 44, told America Tonight. “You put in 20, 25 years, you expect to be taken care of when you retire.”
Derek Foxhall, Engine Company 44's engine operator and a 15-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, calculated that a firefighter with a $30,000 annual pension could see it slashed to just $4,800 with the city in bankruptcy.
“This is a career. You know, you came on this job knowing that at the end of the tunnel there was a light,” he said. “Well, they just turned the light off and said, ‘hey, you find your way out.’ They left us in the dark.”
Michael Jefferson
Detroit Fire Department captain
For the city’s fire department, conditions have been deteriorating for a while. Mayor Dave Bing cut the department’s $184 million budget by 20 percent last year, worsening a devastating equipment shortage. When America Tonight visited Engine Company 44, both its trucks were in for repairs.
“Our repair shop is short-staffed, the city is short-staffed,” Jefferson said. “We are short-staffed, so we can only do with what’s given to us.”
The hose tower used to be strung up with hoses. Now, it’s empty. Jefferson says they haven’t purchased any new equipment since 2007.
“When we have a budget of so many millions of dollars, and our leaders are told to cut $10 million, where are they gonna look?” he said. “They’re gonna look at the fire department. We generate very few dollars for the city.”
The firefighters at Engine Company 44 say they bought all the furnishings at their station – couches, chairs and tables – out of pocket. And although their gear is weathered from wear and tear, they can't replace it.
“We get caught behind an 8-ball, where they may not have size 10 fire boots, they may not have size 46 fire coats,” Jefferson said.
The National Firefighters Endowment, a charity that supports fire departments in need, has even mobilized a national donation drive for Detroit’s firefighters. On its donation page, Engine 44 has requested 30 leather fire boots, 30 flashlights and other basics like gloves and truck belts.
“We need everything right now. We need everything,” Jefferson said. “We need rigs, we need fire trucks right now. We need manpower, we’re very low on manpower.”
Help is expected to be on the way. In a much-needed boost to the force, Detroit will be hiring 150 more firefighters in the coming months, thanks to a $24-million federal grant. “The average age of a Detroit firefighter is 45 years old,” Jefferson said. “We haven’t hired in five years.”
These cuts are all the more crippling in a city besieged by arson. Detroit’s arsonists range from homeowners hoping for insurance money to kids catching thrills among the city’s 80,000 abandoned buildings. Aging Rust Belt cities are prime targets for arsonists, but with $200 million in arson-related property damage last year, Reuters reported that the cost of Detroit’s intentional fires is more than the cities of Buffalo, N.Y., Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Milwaukee combined.
It's hard to know the exact number of arsons though. The department is so under-staffed that only one out of every five suspicious fires is investigated, reported the Motor City Muckraker.
Even with all of this, as well as the 10-percent wage cut last year, the firefighters at Engine Company 44 have kept up their camaraderie.
“Every day, every day, we put our lives on the line,” said Jefferson, who was born and raised in Detroit. “Some of these guys I work with are heroes to me.”
He added: “We just want the bare basic stuff to do our job. The city is trying right now. I’m seeing a slow curve. But until that happens, you’re still going to be seeing me wearing the same stuff that I wore today.”
A correction was added on Dec. 3. An earlier version of this article referred to annual salary instead of annual pension.
Error
Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. Please try again later or using a different browser.