A 71-year-old man with disabilities died in a house blaze Jan. 15, not far from a closed engine company, Motor City Muckraker reports.
Tom Clark was overcome by smoke in his upstairs bedroom and couldn’t be resuscitated. He lived on Philip, south of Jefferson, about four minutes away from Engine 38, which was closed. Its quarters are on Coplin, just north of Jefferson.
Instead of a four-minute ride to the burning house, firefighters at the next-closest station, Engine 52, at Manistique and East. Warren, were more than 10 minutes away. The national standard for response times in cities is four minutes and two seconds, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
