Detroit Firefighters Hampered By Low Water Pressure As Flames Spread Through 3 Homes
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit firefighters battled flames and non-working hydrants in a west side neighborhood Tuesday morning.
Crews were called to the area of Monterey and Lawton and found a house ablaze and fire hydrants that weren't pumping out water.
"We had no pressure in the hydrants on Monterey between Lawton and Linwood," Fire Chief Joe English told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "So, that caused some problems for us in the beginning. We had to stretch across Linwood and all the way down to Elmhurst just to get water."
The fire spread to two neighboring homes before crews were able to extinguish the flames. The blaze was put out just in time before reaching "Shelly's" home.
"I'm just glad that they saved the house and didn't nobody in the fire department get hurt and everything was peaceful," she said.
Shelly claims the fire hydrant in her neighborhood has been out of service for at least two years.
"I know it was working the first year I moved over here but after that, it don't work no more," she said. "We've got two, one right here and one at the corner, and since these last couple years we've been having fires, they ain't been working."
An investigation is now underway to determine a cause of the fire. Questions remain as to why the hydrants weren't working properly.