Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
There is no question that Highland Park, Mi Firefighters see a lot of fire. Much like the City of Detroit, which surrounds Highland Park, they have some serious obstacles. They don’t have a lot of firefighters, have poor firehouse conditions, work with sub-par equipment, and operate on wore out apparatus. Watch the video below to see what they are up against.
A CITY IN FLAMES: INSIDE DETROIT’S WAR ON ARSON
For eight long years, the firefighters of Highland Park, Michigan, worked out of a warehouse. There was no red-bricked facade, no lanky Dalmatian. No freshly washed engines gleaming in the sun. No second-floor fire pole to descend in the dead of night to wailing sirens. Whatever idealized vision you have of firefighting, Highland Park is not it. Instead, picture a hulking, boxy building on the edge of an industrial park about six miles north of Detroit. A small metal sign points the way, light blue with “Fire Dept” stenciled in all-caps white, the previous tenant’s name erased with spray paint. There’s a parking lot strewn with detritus (including a vagabond shopping cart) and beyond that train tracks and Interstate 75, the eight-lane highway that cuts through the heart of Detroit.
