Burn Page #6

On paper, it's a fire company,

but it's closed every day,

so all the men are dispersed.

We've got like five fire

companies that are like that.

It's quite a change.

The phones ringing, and the

paperwork, the scheduling,

and the manpower, it's

a whole different job.

And you're not one

of the guys anymore.

All of a sudden, you're

the guy saying, "No."

Here it is, the TAC Unit.

Their regular rig is out of service,

they got this as a

replacement vehicle.

The pumps work on it, we just are

not authorized to turn them on.

Regarding the TAC Unit, are

we going to be using that,

are we going to pump with

that tonight, or what?

We just got in it with the Chief

of the Department about the TAC Unit.

That's for manpower only.

It is not... orders are to not

let anybody stretch with it.

What did they say

about us using the pumps, no?

I called after

they went back in service,

I was told they have no record

of any changes, status quo.

So we're not allowed to pump.

That's what I was told.

Beginning to wonder if Detroit

doesn't put the "D" in dysfunctional.

I had a janitorial

staff of one individual.

And we cannot afford to

keep him on the payroll,

so we cut him loose,

it's budget cuts.

You know, is that something

the Commissioner

of the Detroit Fire

Department should be doing?

Well, in these times, yes.

But, it was like Nala

was wrestling in the movie.

Exactly.

I know.

Have you seen "The Lion King?"

You know what

I watched yesterday?

There was no Westerns on yesterday!

Oh, no!

What?

Don't you have the Western Channel?

Yeah, but that didn't

have nothing to do with it.

I spent 24 hours watching...

That was Direct TV, too.

So, no, no, no,

so there were no Westerns

on the Western Channel?

Is that what you're saying?

Sometimes they have like

shows where they talk about Westerns.

Oh.

No, it wasn't that.

It wasn't an actual Western.

24 hours of a black-and-white movie.

Did I think about moving?

Absolutely.

But I work in my community,

I live in my community,

and I go to church in my community.

I do everything within

a five-mile radius.

What are you

going to stay here for?

What am I going to leave for?

I'm just...

What are you going to leave for?

So you don't get shot!

Well, cancel the damn shot,

I don't plan on being shot, baby.

Nobody plans on being shot!

That's why they have to

be rushed to the hospital.

Right.

I talked to

your Uncle Joe about it.

It's going to take me a year to

get everything out of this house.

As long as you don't

plan on being in this home for more

than a year or two,

I'm okay with that.

Two years max!

Two years max.

It was eight

months five minutes ago.

No, no, no, no.

Well, I guess eventually I'm

going to be Downtown somewhere.

I might go to a Johnny Mathis

concert if he comes to town, maybe.

Really?

Memories, she used to like to...

well, we used to like to sit on

the balcony, yeah, that was fun.

Okay!

It won't have the happy ending.

You might be the youngest guy

at the Johnny Mathis concert.

It'll be you and the guy

that takes the tickets.

How you doing?

Okay, how are you?

I'm good, okay, you're

all set, thanks, you too.

Hey, Doogie, how's it going?

Pleasure to meet you, Steve.

You big, jerk.

Sorry, had to do it.

It's okay!

Do you ever have thoughts

of hurting or harming yourself?

No.

Are you on any

anticonvulsants, tranquilizers,

psychotropics or hypnotics?

What's a psychotropic?

The doctor here has

been in a chair for 20 years.

He was a quadriplegic that eventually

gained the use of his arms.

Is that solid?

Stronger than I look, huh?

Yeah.

It's nice to have a

doctor in a chair.

Okay, you passed the test.

He's not going

to bullshit ya, he knows.

And this weekend is a

year from the accident.

Anything else as far as where I

should be at the one-year point?

I think you're probably

about where you're going to be

for the long-term in terms of

recovery of movement and sensation.

I think you're going to be

in-line with the rest of us.

Now, you know... when I got hurt many

years ago, I used to see pictures

of those nerve cells growing...

Big deep breath in, out, your

mouth open, again, one more time.

Anywhere that you look

up, you can see fireworks going off.

And you hear them and the

dog's a little bit nervous,

because we just rescued her out of

a fire, and now she's hearing all

of these sounds, but

she's a good dog.

Twelve years deep, and I'm retired.

Everything I did to

supplement my income

in the fire department

was all manual labor,

hardwood floors, carpentry, roofing.

I can't roof, I'm in a wheelchair.

Nobody's paying me for

my mind, that's for sure.

You know, maybe I'm not going to win

the lottery, maybe there's no miracle

out there for me, you hope in one

hand, and sh*t in the other and see

which one gets filled up faster.

He calls them as he sees them.

He's a straight-shooter,

that's for damn sure.

This is probably the

most difficult battle I've had.

And so far in life, I've

been fairly successful.

I'm going to hang in there,

I'm not going to quit,

I'm going to do the best I can.

I don't want to fail now in the

backend of my life, certainly,

backend of my work career.

I've got

approximately 11 working days left,

and then I'll be retired,

that'll be the end of an era.

See I've been with Gloria for the

last 35 years, and this is going

to be different, totally different.

So I don't know, I don't know

what that's going to be like.

I don't want to think about it.

Alarm Company is responding.

Fire is reported in a dwelling.

They state that a child is trapped

in the upstairs attic,

in the upstairs attic.

A three-year-old

girl dies

after being trapped

in her burning home.

When help arrived, the fire truck

wasn't equipped for the job.

But a tactical truck

was the first to arrive.

It's smaller, didn't have a

ladder, and didn't have a driver

who could use the 300-gallon tank.

Thank you, Jesus.

Oh, Jesus!

This is a personal tragedy,

because this is my family, okay?

And all I know is that everyone

of these guys would have

risked their life to save.

Yes, thank you, thank you.

They did not fail.

Who failed us was the City!

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you

Oh, it hurts deeply.

You know, I've seen my share of

life lost in the fire service,

and you just wonder what could

we have done differently?

I'm mad at the City of Detroit

that don't have the equipment

to rescue our people.

Why was a faulty truck

sent to my fire?!

Ms. LaRock, have you

heard from Don Austin yet?

No, I haven't.

What would you say

to the Fire Commissioner?

Fire Commissioner,

I don't know how you can feel

in the bottom of your heart

that everything was done.

There was faulty equipment

sent to my fire.

And I wish you were here on this

panel, so I could look you dead

in your eye to show you how I feel.

His hands were

tied by the legal department,

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