Flint Firefighters Blame Budget Cuts for a Disastrous Fire-Rescue Operation

David Mittleman

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Flint is no stranger to strife, both in the past and in the present. How could we forget the impact the closing of the General Motors plants had on the city’s population back in the 80s? In recent years, the economic crisis has had a similar effect with cuts in the firefighting department, including layoffs for 22 firefighters and closures of two fire stations. Three Flint firefighters recently witnessed how devastating of an impact these cutbacks had on the victims of a local house fire, when the three firefighters were forced to fight the fire without adequate help or enough equipment.

Less than 48 hours after the cutbacks, Mark Kovach and two of his colleagues from Station No. 5 responded to a call for a house fire on Bennett Avenue in Flint. Station No. 5 had an idled ladder and water truck due to the cuts, but they were the closest to the inferno. When they arrived at the scene, they encountered a frenzy of people directing them to the second floor, where a 47-year-old man with a heart condition was trapped. They attempted to rescue the man, sans water or ladder, and were greatly unsuccessful—in fact, the man died and the three firefighters had second-degree burns.

Although Flint represents one of the most compelling depictions of the economic crisis and the resulting budget cuts, it is also symbolic of the entire nation’s suffering fire and police departments. The mayor of Flint claims that the fire department cuts had nothing to do with the final outcome of the fire on Bennett Avenue. Instead, he states that the fire was an “unavoidable…perfect storm” that would’ve challenged an even better equipped fire company. So why weren’t the firefighters of Station No. 5 better equipped if that’s the only chance they had to beat the fire and save lives, you may be asking yourself? The mayor might have asked himself the same thing…he has since found funding to re-open Station 5.