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WHEN DARKNESS FALLS: Cities battle to stay safe
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
WHEN DARKNESS FALLS: Cities battle to stay safe
August 16, 2003
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, BEN SCHMITT AND CECIL ANGEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
As the billowing flames replaced failed streetlights on the city's near east side, Detroit firefighters conceded immediately: The lack of water pressure from the hydrants wouldn't allow them to battle the inferno purposely set in the two-story duplex.
Instead, they worked feverishly to save the house next door. All while one of its occupants -- an 82-year-old grandmother -- sat in a lawn chair across the street, watching and praying.
"We've got enough problems right now -- the power's out," said Margaret Brantley, who lives on Pulford at Gratiot. "Why do people want to go around burning houses? It doesn't make sense. It never will make sense."
It was part of what played out in metro Detroit after dark as looters ransacked stores, frustrated drivers drove recklessly to get out of jams and cops set up barricades to enforce curfews.
It was a night when a region was powerless to fight fires. Powerless to safeguard businesses. Powerless to provide safe water.
A region simply powerless.
From Downriver to the 8 Mile stretch, residents and law enforcement officials grappled with the problems that come when an unexpected blackout hits.
In Melvindale, a little after midnight Friday, about 2,000 residents were forced to leave their already-darkened homes because of a series of small explosions at the Marathon oil refinery. Public safety officials said the fumes could be harmful; some residents were told the whole area might blow.
Officers wearing gas masks roused sweaty, sleepy occupants and ordered them to evacuate. Those who had no place to go, drove or took city shuttles to the Melvindale Civic Center or Coogan Terrace senior home in the city.
By 2:30 a.m., about 200 people sprawled out on the floor or fold-out chairs in the civic center trying to sleep.
Mary Ann Evans, 50, clutched her kitten, Pooky, while trying to sleep on a chair across from her 28-year-old daughter, Jacki Charles, and granddaughter, Samara Charles.
"I don't know how long we can take this," Evans said.
Detroit Police reported 118 felony arrests since 4 p.m. Thursday, 22 related to theft and looting. But there were no fatalities and few of the major disturbances that could have resulted when a city of more than 900,000 loses power.
"Before you pick up a brick and throw it through a window. Before you tip over a car. Before you take a TV, you need to ask yourself, 'Is it worth the next 10 years of my life?' " Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan said Friday.
But there was at least one major case of looting on the city's near west side, when as many as 100 people ransacked a Citgo gas station and convenience store.
A crowd entered the store at Fenkell and Dexter around 5 p.m. Thursday -- some wielding tire irons -- and ordered store manager Radwan Akil to leave or be harmed. Akil obeyed and returned two hours later to a trashed store, with a destroyed ATM machine, ripped open cash registers and merchandise scattered over the floor.
The store's owner of two years, Mohamad Shukr, said he planned to sell the building. "But, who's going to want to buy it after this," he said. "I'm going to lose money, big time."
Still, some store owners in Detroit stayed open and sold food and drink by candlelight.
Faris Dawood used a calculator and candles to take cash and change for items in the Firebird gas station on the Detroit side of 8 Mile, near Mound.
"We're having no problems. People need help, I want to help," he said.
Dawood, who co-owns the store with his brother, spent the night behind the bullet-proof counter with a gun.
"God bless you for staying open," said Angela Cooper as she exited the store around 12:15 a.m. with chips and a Gatorade drink. "You'll be in my prayers."
On interstates around the metro area, drivers traveled backward and even turned their vehicles around in attempts to avoid traffic snarls. Around 1 a.m. Friday, a spontaneous gathering on I-96 where it meets I-75 allowed truckers to stretch their legs, smoke cigarettes and talk about the 2 1/2-hour nightmare they ran into while trying to get to the Ambassador Bridge. The sea of semis illuminated the highway with only orange parking lights.
"This is a rough deal," said Mark Legon, 34, an Ontario resident who drives a longhaul with his wife. "We have to be in Toronto by 9 a.m., and I don't know if that's going to happen."
Near downtown, a business owner along Woodward was notified by his skittish security team that despite their efforts to protect, vandals had smashed the double-pane windows to the Majestic Cafe.
"We were staying here all night to stop this from happening," said Jason Kurkiewicz, the security guard.
Along 8 Mile, suburban police officers stood at barricades to block Detroit traffic from entering their cities. Officers who guarded the Eastpointe border at Gratiot and 8 Mile, and Warren Police who did the same along Van Dyke, Mound and 8 Mile, said they were merely enforcing curfews.
Oakland County declared a state of emergency less than an hour after the power went off Thursday.
In Pontiac, the police department had no fuel. So the county opened up its pumps and transferred 10,000 gallons to keep police cars and emergency generators running.
Oak Park Police Department's nonemergency phones weren't working, so amateur ham radio operators worked with the department to facilitate communications.
Locks on Macomb County jail cells were almost deactivated Thursday night when sewage backed up in the basement, and nearly reached the generator powering the jail in Mt. Clemens.
There were 1,300 inmates in the jail at the time. A second generator was used to power a pump, which removed the water by 11 p.m. Thursday.
On East Warren and Meldrum at 12:30 a.m. Friday, the Detroit street was pitch black, except for a battered, slow-moving 1987 Econoline van out of which a bright search light scanned buildings.
Inside the van were two city residents.
"We're just patrolling," said Leon Tyner. "Our city's OK. We don't want our city to go up in smoke."
Staff writers Kathleen Gray, Mary Owen, Christy Oyama-Arboscello contributed to this report. Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY at 313-223-4536 or hackney@freepress.com.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/safe16_20030816.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
August 16, 2003
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, BEN SCHMITT AND CECIL ANGEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
As the billowing flames replaced failed streetlights on the city's near east side, Detroit firefighters conceded immediately: The lack of water pressure from the hydrants wouldn't allow them to battle the inferno purposely set in the two-story duplex.
Instead, they worked feverishly to save the house next door. All while one of its occupants -- an 82-year-old grandmother -- sat in a lawn chair across the street, watching and praying.
"We've got enough problems right now -- the power's out," said Margaret Brantley, who lives on Pulford at Gratiot. "Why do people want to go around burning houses? It doesn't make sense. It never will make sense."
It was part of what played out in metro Detroit after dark as looters ransacked stores, frustrated drivers drove recklessly to get out of jams and cops set up barricades to enforce curfews.
It was a night when a region was powerless to fight fires. Powerless to safeguard businesses. Powerless to provide safe water.
A region simply powerless.
From Downriver to the 8 Mile stretch, residents and law enforcement officials grappled with the problems that come when an unexpected blackout hits.
In Melvindale, a little after midnight Friday, about 2,000 residents were forced to leave their already-darkened homes because of a series of small explosions at the Marathon oil refinery. Public safety officials said the fumes could be harmful; some residents were told the whole area might blow.
Officers wearing gas masks roused sweaty, sleepy occupants and ordered them to evacuate. Those who had no place to go, drove or took city shuttles to the Melvindale Civic Center or Coogan Terrace senior home in the city.
By 2:30 a.m., about 200 people sprawled out on the floor or fold-out chairs in the civic center trying to sleep.
Mary Ann Evans, 50, clutched her kitten, Pooky, while trying to sleep on a chair across from her 28-year-old daughter, Jacki Charles, and granddaughter, Samara Charles.
"I don't know how long we can take this," Evans said.
Detroit Police reported 118 felony arrests since 4 p.m. Thursday, 22 related to theft and looting. But there were no fatalities and few of the major disturbances that could have resulted when a city of more than 900,000 loses power.
"Before you pick up a brick and throw it through a window. Before you tip over a car. Before you take a TV, you need to ask yourself, 'Is it worth the next 10 years of my life?' " Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan said Friday.
But there was at least one major case of looting on the city's near west side, when as many as 100 people ransacked a Citgo gas station and convenience store.
A crowd entered the store at Fenkell and Dexter around 5 p.m. Thursday -- some wielding tire irons -- and ordered store manager Radwan Akil to leave or be harmed. Akil obeyed and returned two hours later to a trashed store, with a destroyed ATM machine, ripped open cash registers and merchandise scattered over the floor.
The store's owner of two years, Mohamad Shukr, said he planned to sell the building. "But, who's going to want to buy it after this," he said. "I'm going to lose money, big time."
Still, some store owners in Detroit stayed open and sold food and drink by candlelight.
Faris Dawood used a calculator and candles to take cash and change for items in the Firebird gas station on the Detroit side of 8 Mile, near Mound.
"We're having no problems. People need help, I want to help," he said.
Dawood, who co-owns the store with his brother, spent the night behind the bullet-proof counter with a gun.
"God bless you for staying open," said Angela Cooper as she exited the store around 12:15 a.m. with chips and a Gatorade drink. "You'll be in my prayers."
On interstates around the metro area, drivers traveled backward and even turned their vehicles around in attempts to avoid traffic snarls. Around 1 a.m. Friday, a spontaneous gathering on I-96 where it meets I-75 allowed truckers to stretch their legs, smoke cigarettes and talk about the 2 1/2-hour nightmare they ran into while trying to get to the Ambassador Bridge. The sea of semis illuminated the highway with only orange parking lights.
"This is a rough deal," said Mark Legon, 34, an Ontario resident who drives a longhaul with his wife. "We have to be in Toronto by 9 a.m., and I don't know if that's going to happen."
Near downtown, a business owner along Woodward was notified by his skittish security team that despite their efforts to protect, vandals had smashed the double-pane windows to the Majestic Cafe.
"We were staying here all night to stop this from happening," said Jason Kurkiewicz, the security guard.
Along 8 Mile, suburban police officers stood at barricades to block Detroit traffic from entering their cities. Officers who guarded the Eastpointe border at Gratiot and 8 Mile, and Warren Police who did the same along Van Dyke, Mound and 8 Mile, said they were merely enforcing curfews.
Oakland County declared a state of emergency less than an hour after the power went off Thursday.
In Pontiac, the police department had no fuel. So the county opened up its pumps and transferred 10,000 gallons to keep police cars and emergency generators running.
Oak Park Police Department's nonemergency phones weren't working, so amateur ham radio operators worked with the department to facilitate communications.
Locks on Macomb County jail cells were almost deactivated Thursday night when sewage backed up in the basement, and nearly reached the generator powering the jail in Mt. Clemens.
There were 1,300 inmates in the jail at the time. A second generator was used to power a pump, which removed the water by 11 p.m. Thursday.
On East Warren and Meldrum at 12:30 a.m. Friday, the Detroit street was pitch black, except for a battered, slow-moving 1987 Econoline van out of which a bright search light scanned buildings.
Inside the van were two city residents.
"We're just patrolling," said Leon Tyner. "Our city's OK. We don't want our city to go up in smoke."
Staff writers Kathleen Gray, Mary Owen, Christy Oyama-Arboscello contributed to this report. Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY at 313-223-4536 or hackney@freepress.com.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/safe16_20030816.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Comments
I`m watching the news right now and they are taking about it now.One gang of people(22)around Dexter tried to do some looting but were quickly arrested as the citizens were watching and notified polece. Without the arrest of those 22 people it would have been a normal night.They said Detroit has NOT seen the looting trouble that the national media is reporting.
One news show stated there was actually less crime in Detroit than during nights with power...
You can't see me, my eyes are closed..
Lil' Stinker's Opinion
"Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, not liberty to purchase power."
Benjamin Franklin, 1785
"Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, not liberty to purchase power."
Benjamin Franklin, 1785
I know LA wasn't Blacked Out, but they don't need a good Excuse.[}:)]
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions.