Fires raged in Detroit after power lines fell throughout the city sparking at least 85 blazes. Witnesses and victims said they repeatedly called DTE Energy and the city's 911 service to no avail. DTE says it is investigating the complaints.
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http://detnews.com/article/20100907/METRO/9070424
Winds fuel flames of dozens of Detroit fires
ORALANDAR BRAND-WILLIAMS, MARK HICKS AND GEORGE HUNTER
The Detroit News
Detroit -- Wind gusts of up to 50 mph that downed power lines and low
humidity fueled the flames of at least 85 fires throughout the city.
Power was out for 36,000 customers in the region, according to DTE Energy.
The arid conditions combined with high winds were cited for at least
85 reported fires in a four-hour period Tuesday afternoon, city
officials said.
The "act of Mother Nature" burned at least 20 homes on the city's east
side alone -- most abandoned, Detroit Fire Chief Gregory Williams
said. Fire officials say arson is not suspected.
At least five dwellings reportedly caught fire at Curtis near
Livernois on the city's northwest side.
"There was a lot of smoke," said Norman Stephen, who works in the
area. "I heard the firefighters saying the wind was causing the other
places to catch on fire."
On the east side, there were seven building fires reported near Quinn
and Van Dyke. Multiple fires at Rutherford and Van Dyke as well as
McClellan and Murray also were reported.
A message on the Firenet service read, "No other fire equipment left
in the city."
Dan McNamara, president of Detroit Fire Fighters Association Local
344, said he heard from others in the city that at one point there
were no companies available because they were battling other blazes.
Karen Dumas, a spokeswoman for the city, said firefighters from
Dearborn and Warren were called in to help.
If there was slow response time, she said, "The issue was demand."
"Our goal is to maintain public safety," she said. "Given the demand
of the resources in a short period of time, that was what was done. We
had to adapt to those circumstances."
Power lines downed by the high winds reportedly blew sparks causing
blazes that ripped through homes on Van Dyke and Robinwood on Tuesday, city fire officials said.
"Our priority was trying to save the occupied homes," Williams said,
adding the number was not unusually high but seemed so because they were concentrated. "We've had five to six pockets that have
experienced multiple dwelling fires because of winds."
Mary Hargrave, whose mother lives on Robinwood, said she saw someone on a pole trying to steal copper nearby Friday. When she noticed a transformer sparking there Tuesday, she called DTE several times with no response, Hargrave said.
"This is ridiculous," she said. "You can call them and they don't do
anything, but if you have a shutoff notice they're right there."
Fire later raced through a home beside the brick bungalow where
Shirley Hargrave lived for more than 20 years. That structure also
blazed and by 8 p.m. was uninhabitable, forcing Hargrave and her
husband to seek shelter with relatives.
"'It's too damaged," said Stacey Parks, another daughter, as the
family salvaged belongings in plastic totes and bags. "The walls have
been burned. There's water damage all over."
Scott Simons, a spokesman for DTE, said the utility is investigating
the incident.
Meanwhile, the winds initially knocked out power for about 50,000
customers, Simons said. About 36,000 were powerless by 9 p.m. -- most in Wayne County.
Because winds could still be an issue overnight, it is still too early
to tell when crews will restore electricity to all customers, Simons
said.
"It's likely we'll be working into Thursday," he said.
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for Metro Detroit
through 11 p.m.
Peak wind gusts from 40-49 mph were reported at Detroit Metro Airport
as well as in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Mount Clemens and Monroe,
according to the weather service.
The winds accompanied a cold front crossing the region, meteorologist
Steve Considine said.
Fires were likely as the wind gusts whipped temperatures reaching the
mid-80s in areas that have seen less than 1 inch of rain so far this
month.
"We had a hot dry air mass that moved in today, and the humidity was
really low," Considine said of the fire potential.
Winds also are expected to be near 30 mph on Wednesday, with highs in the 60s, forecasters said.
Staff Writer Santiago Esparza contributed.
Posted: 10:17 p.m.
Downed power wires blamed in some Detroit fires
BY CECIL ANGEL, MELANIE D. SCOTT, BILL LAITNER AND GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Fires raging across large sections of Detroit tonight are being blamed
on downed electrical wires.
“There’s no fire bug here,” said Detroit Fire Department Capt. Steve
Varnas surveying the damage from a blaze in the area of Van Dyke and 7 Mile that had claimed at least 17 structures. “Throughout the whole city, the same thing is happening: Wires down everywhere.”
High winds were causing dead limbs to fall from trees, knocking down
the wires which have been igniting, Varnas said.
The blaze at Van Dyke and 7 Mile was caused when a downed wire landed on top of a garage behind a house that was being rehabbed, he said.
Thousands lose power
Scott Simons, a spokesman for DTE Energy, said tonight that the
utility was unaware that fire officials were blaming some of the fires
on downed power lines and had heard that only through media reports.
“We just heard those reports about a half hour ago,” he said at 9 p.m.
DTE has sent out investigators to look into the claims, Simons said.
High winds knocked about about 50,000 customers off service at the
peak of outages today, Simons said. As of 9 p.m., about 38,000
customers remained without power. He said it could be as late as
Thursday until service is restored to all customers.
“It’s been a constant situation with customers going out of service,
us restoring customers, more customers going out,” Simons said of the
winds.
Fire chief: Department's resources stretched
Detroit Fire Chief Gregory Williams said today was one of the worst
days for fires he’s seen in the 36 1/2 years he’s been with the
department.
“I haven’t had anything like this in 20 years,” he said regarding the
fires in the city.
Williams said firefighters got the call to come to the Van Dyke area
at 5:20 p.m. and had the blazes there confined by about 8 p.m. He
agreed that the fires appeared to be caused by downed electrical wires
from the high winds.
Williams said the sheer number of fires had stretched the department’s
resources to the limit.
Firefighters were exhausted running from location to location, trying
to pace themselves.
The Salvation Army was helping. Calleen Austin, a coordinator with the
group, said food and water were being distributed to firefighters,
many of whom had not eaten since early in the afternoon. As of 8:30
p.m., 12 cases of bottled water had been distributed.
Detroit Fire Department asks for help
As fires spread out of control late this afternoon, the Detroit Fire
Department requested aid around 6 p.m. from the Warren Fire Department— an almost unprecedented request, Detroit Fire Capt. Dan McNamara said.
“We’ve never really been in the situation of needing significant help
since the civil disturbances” during the riots of 1967, McNamara said.
The city asked Warren to send aid to fires raging near 7 Mile and Van
Dyke, said McNamara, a 33-year veteran who is union president of the
Detroit Firefighters Association.
Warren Police Department Lt. Mike Kireta said tonight that he had
tentative confirmation of the city giving firefighting aid to Detroit.
"What I'm hearing is that our fire chief did send some engines down
there," Kireta said.
McNamara said they don't have enough fire companies to respond. “We’ve had aid before, just to help out in a specific area, but this time is different. We don’t have anyone available. ... It used to be we could throw enough resources to knock something big down and work our way into it. The day of reckoning has come.”
Though the city does not have enough fire trucks, McNamara said the
main thing is the city doesn’t have the firefighters to staff them.
Eight or nine fire companies of 65 are shut each day, he said.
“You get to the point where you’re not able to do what you’re supposed
to do,” McNamara said.
The union has 988 members who are firefighters, down about 200 since 2004, and it includes another 100 or so employees in arson, fire
inspection, training and community education whose ranks also have
been severely trimmed, he said.
“For the first time in my knowledge, we have companies that are not
available. And more than that, from what I hear, we’re not making our
runs in a timely manner. This is terrible because a fire doubles in
size every two to three minutes,” McNamara said.
“And it’s not an anomaly just because there’s a windstorm,” he
emphasized. “We’ve had every kind of storm in history. This is a major
embarrassment. I just hope nobody gets hurt.”
McNamara said the firefighters’ union has been telling the city since
the beginning of the decade that the department does not have enough
companies and enough firefighters. He said he believes Mayor Dave Bing is doing the best he can, but noted that “the piper’s gotta be paid
someday.”
The union president said the average of Detroit’s firefighters is 43.
“Firefighting should be a young person’s job,” he said.
“I hope this opens the city and the fire department’s eyes,” McNamara
added. “ To have a city that people want to live in, you have to have
public safety.”
Harper Woods firefighters pitch in
The Harper Woods Fire Department — itself operating with reduced
staffing — sent a fire truck to a Detroit emergency at about 8:30
p.m., when there were four garages and two houses ablaze in one area of Detroit’s east side “and no Detroit personnel available,” Harper
Woods Deputy Police Chief Jim Burke.
“They were just getting killed, and so our fire chief made a run over
there” with three firefighters and two police officers cross-trained
to fight fires, Burke said.
Burke also drove to the scene — near Southhampton and Haverhill
streets — to supervise until Detroit firefighters arrived and the
fires were brought under control, allowing Harper Woods personnel to
return at 9:20 p.m., he said
Detroit-Hamtramck border
The fire along the Detroit-Hamtramck border was on two blocks: Bloom
between Charles and Luce, and on Moenart between Charles and Luce. One house and four garages were destroyed on Bloom. Five houses and more than six garages on Moenart.
Fire officials say they still don't know the cause. In other areas,
officials said, many of the blazes have been blamed on high winds
which snapped electrical lines that ignited structures.
No deaths reported
Ian Perrotta said he noticed a fire in his neighbor's Moenart garage
three hours ago and now his garage, several houses away, is on fire.
"My immediate thought when I saw the fire was it shouldn't have been
that bad," said Perrotta, a former firefighter. "It could have been
contained sooner."
Perrotta said it took more than 30 minutes for police and fire to arrive.
Detroit Fire dispatch reported that as of 7 p.m. there were no reports
of deaths or serious injuries from fires at 20 locations.
Fires have been reported at other locations on the city’s east side,
including McClellan and Berry and McClellan at Murray.
On the city’s west side, multiple houses are ablaze at Curtis and Livernois.
'We've lost everything'
Doris Lee and her husband, Ernest Lee, are devastated after watching
their house in the 12300 block of Moenart on Detroit's northeast side
go up in flames.
"I was changing clothes for work when I heard my neighbor knocking on the door saying 'Get out, get out,'" Doris Lee said. "We've lost
everything. We just left with the clothes on our backs."
The fire, Lee said, appeared to have started in a neighbor's garage
and quickly spread to her garage then her home.
"It was moving very fast," Lee said of the fire. "A few more minutes
and I might not have gotten out."
The Lees have no idea where they are sleeping tonight. Their family
members live in Texas and Tennessee.
Ernest Lee used his cell phone to call relatives to seek help. They
had not talked to fire investigators or anyone from the Red Cross.
The fire has now spread to Bloom Street, near Luce. Fire toll estimate
is 15 houses.
The fires bring back memories of Devil’s Night when fires, many of
them set by arsonists, set multiple fires around the city.
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