You or your fire department may be one of those that may have been crying out for help from your City, County, State or where ever your funding comes from.  Funding is to help pay for new or laid off firefighters, aging fire apparatus or to just keep your department afloat.  It is such a tragedy when a department such as the Detroit Fire Department has had to endure the many dangers of being a firefighter entering into the “unknowns” every time they arrive on shift.  It is hard enough dealing with the “normal” dangers of the job, but to walk into a death trap that is intended to kill or maim firefighters by the great Citizens and bad guys of Detroit is a daily event they face.

Detroit Fire’s Burn Documentary, is a two-hour movie that has not been released to the general public but to the firefighter community across the United States.  It highlights the tragedies they face on a regular basis.  Watch the nine-minute trailer and you will see just a glimpse of what they must face each day.  Why do they do what they do?  It is in their blood.  Some of them are multi-generation firefighters. 

Most of the opinions in this article are of the Author of this blog and not from the Director of this movie or the marketer.

In watching this movie trailer, you will see someone counting a row of houses on one block, how many of them are abandoned.  It is said that some people will actually “burn” down their own home or hire someone to torch a house for the insurance money.  Firefighters will respond when they are called to a fire no matter where in the City it is located.  Ninety-five percent of fires are arson related. “They are death traps intended to kill firefighters.” says one firefighter in the movie.

I am not a firefighter myself, however I do support them in many ways such as, capturing their best moments in fire photography through an organization that interfaces with the Seattle, Northshore and Shoreline Fire Departments here in Washington State.  I am in awe at just watching the trailer and the anger I feel towards the City officials and the government for not stepping in to help these firefighters and police officers. 

It is intriguing to watch our own firefighters in action doing what they do best knowing the danger they are in when they are fighting a stubborn house fire.  To know the Detroit Firefighters are not only fighting fire, but the City to provide enough funding is appalling and very troublesome.  How can a whole City go up in flames like this?

Not only are Detroit firefighters in trouble, but so are the Police Officers when they back them up on fire calls.  In other cases, Officers respond to LE type of calls only to become fired upon.  It is even more sad knowing that there a lot of good people living in Detroit that live in fear or are unable to react to the many instances where fires are just a common thing in their City.

We must band together to help each other no matter how hard it may seem. 

Detroit Fire talks about the difficulties in their City and Department.  Many have died for the great cause.  As the Author of this article, I hope this movie will leave an impact on a government official that has the power to move and respond to Detroit’s cries for help.

 I would encourage each and every person reading this article to watch the movie in your area and make one small contribution to the cause across the United States. 

My recommendations are:

(1) Thank a local firefighter, tell them how much you support them. They will greatly appreciate it.

(2) Contact your local City, County, State government official and tell them that your Fire Department is needed in your area and how staffing is important.  Brown-outs and fire station closures are “unacceptable”.

(3)  Stand up and do what’s right.  Make a difference in your community. Fight for retention of public safety agencies – police & fire.  If we lose any of these people, then it will greatly impact firefighter safety, on-the-job injuries and quick burn out rates.

My contribution is to spread the word out about how things are your fire departments, listening to your feedback and what your needs are.  It was bad enough when we were in a recession with Wall Street going broke leaving many penniless including Cities.  We can’t let our public safety suffer. Let’s all team up together and make a difference.

Detroit Fire’s Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/#!/burnfilm.

Tickets for the movie can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/211905.

A Firefighting Family that Fights Fire Together, Stays Together. 

Detroit Fire, We Got Your Back!

Disclaimer:

This article and its comments are of the author only and not of the Producer of the movie, “Burn” or its marketers or anyone else related to this production. 

(c) 2012 The NW Fire Blog