By CHARLIE LEDUFF
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com
DETROIT (WJBK) – They promised they’d fix it, but Detroiters want to know when. The ambulance system is on life support, and the problem is getting worse instead of better.
"911 is a joke," said Willie Jackson.
It’s gotten so bad in this city that when you call an ambulance, you’d better have a fire hose.
The latest incident happened early Wednesday morning. A woman dizzy. Her blood pressure at dangerous levels. Her son calling for help.
"And they took about 15, 20 minutes before they even got here," Jackson said.
The paramedics strapped the elderly woman into the back of the cab, and then the engine caught on fire all by itself.
"We waited like 30 or 40 minutes on a second ambulance to come," said Jackson.
The woman eventually got to the hospital an hour and three minutes later, and then it took the city nearly three hours to come tow the ambulance away.
We can laugh about it now because nobody died, this time, but we brought you too many stories recently of those who have. It got so bad that last week Mayor Dave Bing fired the top two in the fire department, but before he was fired, Commissioner James Mack admitted that half the city’s ambulance fleet was broken down and the other half was in need of major repairs.
The man in charge of keeping those ambulances working is Fred Wheeler. Mayor Bing has named him the acting commissioner of the fire department while a national search is conducted for a permanent replacement. We caught up with him at Engine Company 55.
Wheeler was pitching himself to the troops Friday as the best man for the job. He wouldn’t allow our cameras in, but he asked me to enter the firehouse. Then he challenged me about my stories concerning missing money and the sloppy job done with the fire truck and ambulance repairs. I stand by every single one of them.
Even though Wheeler invited us to the firehouse for an interview, he ran away when we tried to get you the answers to which you’re entitled.
The acting fire commissioner is expected to get an in-depth plan on how to fix the EMS system to city council in two weeks.
