DETROIT – Thursday morning, Detroit Fire Engine 44 received an emergency call to respond to a house fire alarm near its station.
As Engine 44 approached 7 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, the driver of a white SUV drove through the intersection and smashed into the fire engine’s side rear.
The impact sent Engine 44 through the intersection, up onto the sidewalk, and hit a bus stop, shattering all of the glass there.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Sources told Local 4 that this was accident No. 93 for the Detroit Fire Department in 2024.
To be clear, the mayor’s office says this crash is under investigation but believes the driver of Engine 44 did slow down and stop at 7 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue to make sure it was clear before proceeding.
Our sources told us that the driver of the car who hit the engine should not have been driving and should have had a suspended license.
Still, sources believe that some fire engine drivers are being criticized for not taking extra care to ensure intersections are completely clear before moving through them.
One source at the scene of Thursday’s (Oct. 3) crash says the Detroit Police Department told the crew that he believed the driver of Engine 44 did not fully clear the way before moving forward.
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Sources say clearing the way is the rule, and they say extra care should be taken because they see many drivers not stop or pull over for them.
The mayor’s office says the understanding of the crash is that the DFD crew was not at fault.
Yet another expensive fire engine crashed, and another delay occurred in responding to a call for a house alarm or other emergency.
This is an issue only Local 4 has been tracking all year.
Most of the 93 accidents are “fender benders,” meaning a fire engine hits a parked car.
Detroit’s office of General Services tells us they have been swamped this year with repairing damaged fire vehicles due to these fender benders.
Other crashes have been major.
One a fire engine blew a red light causing a major crash on the east side.
Another, an EMS driver, was found at fault by the Michigan State Police for hitting a car getting onto I-75 downtown, sending the ambulance to tumble on its side.
The fire commissioner told us that although crashes and accidents are common in the fire fighting business, he ordered more training for DFD members this year.
We were told that the number of crashes is not high.
Now comes a recent memo within DFD stating:
Everyone agrees Detroit Fire is one of the best in the business, but their members continue to tell us that crashes and accidents are a very real problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.