By Bill McGraw
The Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — After fire broke out in the front room of his home on Smart Street Thursday morning, William Rembis fought the smoke and flames as he tried to save his daughter.
“I was choking and I had to get out,” said Rembis, eyebrows singed, the burned skin on his hands, face and head raw and peeling. “I feel horrible about this.”
He didn’t know he was also battling city of Detroit budget problems.
When the Detroit Fire Department dispatched rigs to the blaze on Smart Street, officials had to improvise.
The department had taken two of the three closest pumpers out of service that day for staffing reasons.
The other one was closed permanently in 2005.
As result, the first rig with all-important water on board had to travel from a longer than normal distance.
Marian Rembis, 37, died in the fire.
There is no way to determine if she would have survived had any of the three closed pumpers been available, but the situation serves as a stark illustration of the way the city’s money problems can impact public safety.
“This is the day we feared,” said Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association. “Our contention is they roll the dice every day in the city of Detroit. On this day, disaster struck.”
The City of Detroit has not responded.
Like all city departments, the Detroit Fire Department suffers from a lack of money, and officials have struggled with manpower and equipment problems for several years as they have trimmed the department’s staffing and rigs.
At times, the situation becomes acute, or someone dies, which focuses attention on the shortcomings, which appear to be growing worse.
In May, the Free Press reported about 22% of the city’s 66 fire-fighting vehicles either were unavailable to answer alarms or were working with broken equipment.
On the day Marian Rembis died, 27 percent of the fire vehicles were out of service or working with acknowledged defects, such as ladder trucks whose ladders won’t rise. Ten rigs in good condition sat idle in their quarters that day because the department couldn’t staff them.