Photo: Steve Neavling, Motor City Muckraker
The city's firehouses have serious problems, Steve Neavling reports at f Motor City Muckraker:
Some of the most hazardous buildings in Detroit are the city’s 40 firehouses.
Recent city inspections found that firefighters and paramedics are forced to live in stations riddled with exposed asbestos and mold, leaking roofs, lead paint, electrical hazards, backed-up raw sewage, noxious gases, malfunctioning fire alarms and broken windows.
The long-neglected problems are so serious and widespread that most of the firehouses are in violation of federal safety standards and pose significant risks to more than 1,000 firefighters and medics.
Neavling quotes one unnamed firefighter as saying: "The sewage can smell so bad that we lose our appetites."
Mayor Mike Duggan's administration is working on the problems, the blogger writes:
Using money from a bankruptcy loan, the city conducted the inspections and is beginning to correct the violations by removing asbestos and mold, fixing roofs and broken toilets and addressing dozens of other problems.
