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Stateside Comment Think you’ve got it tough? FIRE’s US Correspondent Catherine Levin reports on the rising fire risk in the failing city of Detroit
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ovember 5, 2013 may have been bonfire night in the UK but here in the US it was Super Tuesday, with a large number of state and city elections held across the nation. In New York we got Bill de Blasio, the first Democrat to be elected Mayor of the city in 20 years. In Detroit they got their first white Mayor in 40 years in a city that is 90 per cent black. Mike Duggan comes in, as Bloomberg did in New York in 2001, as a self-made businessman ready to shake up a dysfunctional city. Detroit is bankrupt. It is a city that has seen its population dwindle from 1.8 million in the 1950s to its current size of 700,000. It has so many abandoned homes that arson is the main cause of fires in the city. Only recently the childhood home of the rapper Eminem was razed to the ground, as it too was empty and a beacon for would be arsonists. “I’m talking about sometimes just let it burn,” recently resigned Fire Commissioner Donald Austin says during one of his many direct to camera
moments in the film, Burn, One year on the front line of the battle to save Detroit. Focused on the staff from Engine 50, Burn provides an accessible insight into what it’s like to work in a city where the money has dried up; appliances “are held together with bubble
“Donald Austin had 30 years in the Los Angeles Fire Department before he took over in April 2011 and now he’s cleaning his own office because he can’t afford the staff” gum and tape” and pay raises are a dim and distant memory. The city handles 30,000 calls a year and despite the vast majority of fires being caused
by arson in abandoned homes, Detroit still has around 50 residential fire fatalities each year. The case of Ivory Ivey, a three-year-old girl who died in a house fire in September 2011, made headline news with the family blaming the fire department and its lack of equipment for its response time. The film also provides a fascinating look into what it’s like to be a new Fire Commissioner in a failing city. Donald Austin had 30 years in the Los Angeles Fire Department before he took over in April 2011 and now he’s cleaning his own office because he can’t afford the staff. The next Fire Commissioner will be hoping that the city’s Emergency Manager and holder of the purse strings, Kevyn Orr, looks kindly on the fire department so that he can retain most of his $128 million budget to keep the 800 plus firefighters on the run. This could be a hard sell. Detroit is $18 billion in debt and there is an investigation into fraud and corruption of the city pension funds
FIRE’s US Correspondent Catherine Levin reports from Detroit
which includes the firefighter pension pot. The courts have decided that Detroit can gain bankruptcy protection under the law (so-called Chapter 9 bankruptcy) so its future is uncertain and doesn’t look good. The Fire Commissioner is a Mayoral appointee and Mike Duggan will be looking for someone to reinvent the Detroit Fire Department. In the meantime Austin will be making his way back to California in January, where he can at least take comfort in a warmer winter climate.
Fire Service College appoints new director of training Former Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Chief Fire Officer Jon Hall is to head up training and organisational development
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he Fire Service College has appointed Jon Hall as Director of Training and Organisational Development. Mr Hall brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise with over 30 years’ experience in the Fire and Rescue Service, most recently as Chief Fire Officer for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service. In his role as Chair of the National Resilience Board for the UK, he also has firsthand experience in delivering civil resilience as well as
commanding a number of major incidents. Mr Hall will act as the senior professional officer at the college and as the key interface into the Fire and Rescue Service. He will focus on providing effective leadership for the design and delivery of training, learning and conducting exercises as well as supporting the fire and rescue service in ensuring safe and cost effective development of its organisational capability. Jez Smith, Managing Director at the Fire Service College said:
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“I am pleased to be able to appoint such an experienced and high calibre director to our team. Jon’s knowledge and expertise in the Fire and Rescue Service will be a great asset to the Fire Service College and I look forward to working with him. This is an exciting time for the college and Jon’s appointment further strengthens our commitment and vision to become a world-class centre for fire and multi-agency training and leadership development.” Commenting on his
appointment Mr Hall said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at such an important time for fire and rescue services. With chief officers facing unprecedented challenges, it is vital that the college understands these and develops innovative solutions to assist. The appointment process itself was undertaken jointly with CFOA and I hope to continue to build upon such partnership approaches as we develop training and development solutions fit for the future.”