Duggan lauds firefighters, DDOT workers who saved buses

Jan. 19--Quick reaction from Detroit's firefighters and transportation employees prevented what could have been a catastrophic hit to the city's bus service from a fire at an east-side bus terminal during a cold, icy morning last week, Mayor Mike Duggan said Thursday.

Duggan heaped praise on nearly two dozen firefighters who responded to the fire at the Detroit Department of Transportation's Shoemaker Terminal early the morning of Jan. 13, and on DDOT workers who sprang into action to move buses out of the portion of the terminal where the fire started.

"What the DDOT employees and firefighters did was remarkable, and it means a great deal to the residents of Detroit every day," Duggan said at a news conference at the terminal, flanked by workers from both departments. Duggan said he spoke with a DDOT employee who said the cooperation between firefighters and bus-system workers came off "like we practice it every day, like it was no big deal."

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In all, seven DDOT buses were destroyed in the blaze that also leveled most of Bay D at the terminal at Shoemaker and St. Jean between I-94 and Warren Avenue. The fire department said it had ruled out arson and said it appeared that the fire started in the engine of one of the burned buses.

All of the burned buses were among the oldest of DDOT's fleet and were among 20 scheduled to be replaced this spring, officials said, so any financial loss on the buses will be comparatively minimal and covered by insurance, as will repairs to the facility. DDOT deputy director Angelica Jones said officials were still estimating the cost of the damage to the terminal structure and what rebuilding it will cost.

DDOT employees described smoke that grew increasingly thick as they scrambled to get buses out of the terminal, before flames engulfed it. DDOT foreman Dale Bates said he and coworkers ended up moving as many as 50 buses out of harm's way, adding "We have to remain calm under stressful situations."

No one was injured in the fire.

What was most remarkable, Duggan said, was that DDOT ended up meeting 100% of its pull-outs that morning, an industry term for buses leaving terminals and entering active service on time, because the remaining 80 or so buses at the terminal were undamaged. The city now has enough new or older but still working buses that it could absorb the loss with minimal impact on service, Duggan said.

If the fire hadn't been contained, "you can imagine the impact to this city if we lost a third of our fleet," Duggan said. "It would have crippled the service and it would have taken a year to recover."

Contact Matt Helms: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @matthelms.

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