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For nine months, Detroit News reporters Melvin Claxton and Charles Hurt examined the operations of the Detroit Fire Department to determine if it adequately protects the residents it serves.
The reporters faced several obstacles, chief among them a department that often operates in secrecy.
Click here for more details on this report.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Copies of documents
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Melvin Claxton --
An investigative reporter at The Detroit News since 1998, Claxton wrote a series that exposed inadequacies in the Virgin Islands' criminal justice system and won a Pulitzer Prize for the Virgin Islands Daily News in 1995. Claxton, 42, worked at the Chicago Tribune before joining The Detroit News.
Charles Hurt --
A city desk reporter at The Detroit News since 1995, Hurt has covered Detroit Public Schools and the Detroit City Council. Hurt, 29, and Claxton co-authored a project last year that examined the misuse of a $1.5-billion Detroit schools bond program. That project won this year's Associated Press Managing Editors' Freedom of Information award.
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Part One -- Sunday, November 5, 2000
Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit NewsDaree Shannon survived, but was left paralyzed, after jumping from her eighth-floor window to escape a blaze at the Pallister Plaissance apartments building in April. The fire claimed the lives of her mother, Norfessia, and her younger sister, Au-Jane. |
- Faulty trucks, mismanagement lead to deaths in Detroit fires
- Bad equipment, closed stations played a role in 21 deaths since 1996
- Deadly apartment blaze shows fire department’s severe shortcomings
- Tragedy of errors: What went wrong
- A sequence of events in apartment fire tragedy
- Faulty truck’s many failings ignored
- Despite repeated warnings, Ladder 7 still sent on runs
- Ladder 7’s problem-plagued history
- Equipment broken and old; some violates safety rules
- Unsafe air tanks, radios regularly put lives of firefighters at risk
- Essential gear
- Flawed trucks jeopardize safety
- Department’s shoddy maintenance, neglect limit ability to fight fires and save lives
- Breakdowns
- New trucks plague crews
- Detroit lacks capability to fight hazardous spills
- Decade-long effort remains unfinished
- FAA criticizes City Airport for violations
- Citations include failure to properly equip and train crew
- Airport left unprotected by faulty rig
- Truck that was city’s air disaster defense is now a backup
- Those who died
- About this series
- Examining fire reports to find patterns
- Archer concedes shortfalls and promises sweeping changes
- Detroit News report prompts overhaul
- Lack of staffing closes firehouses
- Crews are idled 61 days this year
- Inside the staffing crunch
- It takes a station to buy groceries
- Drivers get scant training
- Some firefighters cause accidents during on-the-job lessons in trucks
- Training
- Recruits learn through make-believe
- Job promotions based on seniority
- Years on the job, not performance, key to advancement
- Bad policies weaken fire protection
- Standards are ignored, fixes often haphazard
- Many hydrants in Detroit haven’t worked in years
- Crews lose valuable time fighting blazes searching for water
- Locating Detroit’s worst fire hydrants
- Inside a fireplug
- Questionable decisions add to risks
- Recent mismanagement magnifies Fire department’s deficiencies
- Firefighters must jerry-rig systems to hear alarms
- Firehouses get calls via printer
- Wilson pledges to fix staffing problems
- Detroit fire commissioner promises more hires, but blames workers for calling in sick
- Cash alone won't fix department
- Analysis shows addressing Detroit's widespread deficiencies will take commitment plus money
- Decaying facility
- Fire academy falling apart, cited for safety code violations
- Fire Department leadership
- Here are some of the top Detroit Fire Department officials
- Archer frees up $3.4 million for fire department
- New vehicle purchases aimed at replacing defective equipment -- 11/30/2000
- Firefighters lacked gear for Ambassador Bridge rescue
- Detroit disbanded rope team in 1997 -- 11/19/2000
- Needed air tanks sat while bill went unpaid
- Months-long delay of inspection, repairs cost Detroit firefighters vital equipment -- 11/12/2000
- Fire officials ignored alarm system upgrade
- Prototype tested successfully eight years ago, but never installed -- 12/11/2000
- Fire union rejects contract
- Medical emergency run proposal is the major stumbling block in reaching accord -- 2/15/2001
- Apathy led to fire hazards
- City leaders have overlooked fire hazards and dismissed concerns raised by their own fire officials -- 4/9/2001
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