Burn Page #4

of guys injured right now

and we have had for the last

four or five years.

I don't know if I'm more

afraid of death or crippling injury.

Out of 17 years, I've been

in the hospital 15 of those years.

I had a second floor bathtub

fall on top of me, a concussion,

partially dislocated my

hips, messed my back up.

An air-conditioning unit from

the roof, collapsed through the roof,

took my helmet and my mask with it.

You just never really

know what you're walking into.

Until you put your life up

as collateral for another life,

you don't know what

life-saving is about.

It's just a miracle

that more guys aren't hurt

or killed on this job.

Middle of the night last

night our bell system stopped working

to notify us that we're

getting a run.

So it's a holiday, and we

figured we'd take a stab

at fixing it ourselves.

We haven't resorted

to the pots and pans

like we used to do in the old days.

Cross your fingers and hope

for a bell.

Yeah! Whoo!

We'll probably get taken down

on charges for doing this.

Well, no one saw us do it.

Yeah, the biggest challenge

about being a Captain here is you

want to take care of the guys,

you want to take care of the rig, you

want to take care of your building,

and you look around here,

you got broken windows

that you've been trying to

get repaired for four years.

You have rigs that are leaking,

and nobody has the parts to fix.

You know, you go down

to the repair shop

for your fire coat, and

they don't have any.

Gloves, boots.

They were leaking.

It's ripped right in the top

here, big chunk out of 'em...

rubber, you could see the steal,

figured I'd duct tape it up,

and it seems like it's

working, right?

Squad 6 leaks oil

like you wouldn't believe.

You can see it down here.

You know? I mean,

these rigs are held together

with bubble gum and tape.

What was it?

I think it was

the airbag or inner tire.

We're wearing this stuff out.

You know, just like the rigs,

you know, our stuff is worn out,

because we're actually

doing something,

we're working all the time, so.

You know, that's just

something that comes with the job.

It's been this way for so long,

and you just get frustrated.

You look at the big picture,

and there's just nothing

you can do about it.

Flames ripped

through an open warehouse,

destroying several businesses inside.

Now, firefighters explain

why they couldn't seem

to get a hand on that fire.

Well, we get there

without the tools we need.

There's not much we can do.

Firefighters doing all

they can, but stretched to the limit.

It looks like a war zone,

the whole block is just

gone, it's just gone.

When it comes

to public safety in Detroit,

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