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Fire in Ypsi
April 26, 2005
Reading Arbor Update, I found this detailed account of a recent fire in Ypsilanti. I was inspired to write my own little analysis of the background events. I do not purport to be an expert on Ypsi’s Fire Department, or its Water Dept., but I think there’s room for me to comment based on some of the research I’ve done.
Problem: The fire department had a long response time.
Answer: The dept. is understaffed and over-extended. The City of Holland Fire Dept. serves 39,000 people (give or take a few). Ypsilanti’s serves around 45,000, according to their website. Holland has 3 stations, two of which are manned full time. Ypsi has 1 (ONE) station, also manned full time. From what I can tell, Ypsi has one truck, two engines, a rescue and a support van. Ypsi is also a full time only department, which means that off-duty personal are called back on big fire calls. Holland, on the other hand, has one truck, three engines, one reserve engine, one medium rescue, one light rescue, a brush truck, and a tiny boat. Holland’s two full time stations are complimented by a large amount of paid on-call members, who only respond to fires and big events. I’d imagine, since Pittsfield Twp. was first on scene to Ypsi, that Ypsi has an automatic aid agreement set up to save its ass. It looks like that worked - but is that safe?
Problem: First fire hydrant attached to did not flow.
Answer: Inadequate maintanence, poor communication, poor fire department operation… all could be problems. Over winter, some fire hydrants are prone to freeze and crack, leaving them out of service. Unless the Water Dept. goes around and checks all hydrants, this problem may not be found in time to correct before a fire. A better maintanence program may be of merit. Also, the water and fire departments should talk together more often, sharing information about out-of-service hydrants. A good system should be worked out to inform the fire dept. which hydrants are unusable, even as simple as duct-taping a trash bag over the bad hyrdant (we started doing that in Holland). And, just to say… the firefighters should flow the hydrant quickly before attaching hose, just to make sure it works.
This is a short analysis, I’m sure there are many more issues involved. Nonetheless, there seems to be quite a few things lacking in Ypsi, and all those people saying, “move to Ypsi, it’s cheap, and cool,” better watch their butts.
Posted by paul at April 26, 2005 08:10 PM
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Comments
Brandon said on May 3, 2005 11:17 PMI think Ypsi being BROKE might have something to do with it.
But I think I'd take my chances... sorta like designing streets based on the biggest fire trucks available. Fires are statistically an unlikely destroyer of one's property or life... be more likely to die commuting from a rich exurb with a wealthy fire dept.