‘Natural disaster’ or corporate criminality?

A series of 85 fires struck several Detroit neighborhoods on Sept. 7. High winds of up to 50 miles per hour hit the city that day and blew down power lines, sparking fires that spread rapidly.

Initial reports from the corporate media and DTE Energy, which supplies local power to the bulk of homes, indicated that the blazes were the result of arson and theft of power service by Detroit residents.

However, a Detroit Fire Department official soon claimed that the fires directly emanated from the failure of DTE Energy to respond to calls about downed lines days before the fires rendered hundreds homeless.

DTE Energy has over $20 billion in assets, yet it has closed neighborhood field offices that could have responded to the downed lines. It has also cut back on maintenance and fixing damaged power lines throughout the metropolitan area.

Once the fires began, Detroit emergency responders were incapable of adequately addressing the crisis. As a result of the layoffs and cutbacks of services, 911 operators did not answer calls. Some operators were reported to have hung up on residents.

In addition, the fire department has not hired the necessary personnel due to the draconian budget cuts implemented by the corporate-oriented administration of Mayor Dave Bing as well as the majority bloc within the City Council.

Mary Hargrave, whose mother lives on one of the most devastated streets, said she had noticed a transformer that was sparking earlier in the day, but calls to DTE got no response. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “You can call them and they don’t do anything, but if you have a shutoff notice they’re right there.” (Detroit News, Sept. 8)

The fire department has about 500 fighters assigned to cover the city. On Sept. 7, only 236 were on duty and only 58 fire engine companies were open, a decline of 13 companies since 2005. There are at least 20 fewer firefighters in Detroit now than in 2009.

Dan McNamara, Detroit Fire Fighters Association president, said that his union members responded the best they could under the circumstances. McNamara said that the union has repeatedly warned the Bing administration that the city needs an additional 300 firefighters and should have 65 companies open and operational.

“Our firefighters put everything out there,” McNamara said. “Firefighters on their day off came to assist on scene, but while fires were going on, more calls came in, and we weren’t able to respond.” (Associated Press, Sept. 11)

Despite calls to 911 operators, it took some fire trucks up to 90 minutes to respond to the alarms. Residents were seen in some neighborhoods using water hoses in futile attempts to put out the flames.

Corporations, banks at root of municipal crisis

Detroit has been described as the epicenter of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Due to the high rate of unemployment and predatory lending by financial institutions, there are tens of thousands of vacant homes, businesses, factories and other structures.

Detroit officials say that the current budget deficit is in excess of $300 million and growing, resulting in thousands of educational and municipal jobs being eliminated.

DTE Energy has contributed significantly to the crisis. Its lack of maintenance in the city could cause further disaster because of the proliferation of vacant and blighted structures. DTE also admits that it terminates essential electrical and heating services to more than 100,000 households annually.

DTE Energy has been blamed for the deaths of at least 12 people since 2009 due to the utility shutoffs. The company claims that the deaths are the result of “energy theft” by people whose services have been terminated.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs continues to challenge DTE Energy, the city of Detroit and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to impose a halt to service terminations. Hundreds of thousands of households are unable to pay the high rates and face shutoffs, health and safety threats, more deaths and further destruction of homes.

In July of 2009, four members of the Reed-Owens family, including three children, died because their electricity was shut off despite the fact that the household was in bankruptcy, which is supposed to prevent the termination of services. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition launched a campaign demanding a halt to the shutoffs.

Top-level executives of DTE Energy immediately called for a meeting with coalition members, who repeated their demand for a halt to the shutoffs. The corporation refused.

Several months later, Moratorium NOW! organized the residents of the Highland Towers apartments, where electrical service was terminated due to the negligence of the landlords. DTE Energy was forced to turn the power back on and pay for the relocation of the residents, yet the apartment building remained abandoned for a year.

Just recently, the abandoned Highland Towers caught fire, destroying a structure that could have easily been saved and remained occupied. However, the failure of municipal governments, the state Legislature and the governor to stand up to the banks, corporations and landlords has resulted in further abandonment and blight in Detroit and throughout Michigan.

The recent fires in Detroit, which Mayor Bing attributed to a “natural disaster,” stem directly from corporate control of energy resources and strangulation by the banks, which have drained the city’s resources through mass home foreclosures and debt-service payments. At a Sept. 8 press conference, Mayor Bing revealed that he had served for two decades on the DTE Energy board. After being questioned about his relationship with DTE Energy, Bing stormed out of the press conference.

The only short-term solution to the crisis in Detroit and other cities is an immediate moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs as well as a freezing of debt-service payments to the banks.