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The Rouge Fire Department, Dearborn Industrial Firefighters Union Local I-35, of the International Association of Fire Fighters was first Chartered on March 7, 1980.Today we have 16 Fire Fighters , handling fire-fighting, ems, inspections, extinguisher maintenance, emergency release, confined space, high angle and trench rescue.
In 1918 the department consisted of around 123 men, providing fire protection and laundry services to a Rouge Complex which had a population of around 100,000 people. The Fire Station at that time was located next to the power house #3, on the westside of the Dearborn Assembly plant.A fire truck of 1924 to 1932 vintage provided fire fighting capabilities to the complex. Story has it it was literally a fist fight, almost hand to hand combat to find a position on the truck when a alarm was received.In the back of the mind of one of the old timers he recollects a 1918 steam powered fire truck.Some time around late 1930's the fire station moved to it's present location in the south-west corner of the Dearborn Glass Plant. Laundry duties were still par for the day, fire fighters. from the station would report to the x-y section of the Dearborn Assembly Plant. The.laundry once again was moved in 1940's to the Manufacturing Services Building near the center of the complex. Today that wooden beamed structure does not exist. The fire station continued to hold a complement of 110 men and two fire trucks a 1939 and 1941 model.During the first and second World Wars the fire fighters provided protection to the Rouge Complex while the war machine was running full tilt. The present day Dearborn Assembly Plant built and launched Eagle Boats during World War I, which made their way down the Rouge River and eventually out to sea. During World War II Pratt and Whitney air craft engines were built at today's Dearborn Engine and Fuel Tank Plant. It's said that the United States government sold the plant for one dollar to the Ford Motor Company. The entire complex was geared to war production. Squeezed into engines and boats the Company also made amphibious jeeps and the DAP was producing turrets for tanks.Around 1941 to 1950, located at the southwest end of the eleven hundred acre Rouge Complex was a Naval barracks complex, fire protection for the complex was provided by a small one engine fire station which was manned by three fire fighters one on each eight.. hour shift, using a 1932 vintage fire truck. Story has it that that fire station burned down.By the time the late 50's and early 60's rolled around the fire station held a complement of around 60 or so firefighters. The fire fighting equipment consisted of a 1950 and 1954 class A, open cab pumpers. The fire fighters duties remained #1 fire fighting but the job began to take on more responsibility in the way of not only personal protection but protection and first aid to the plant population. Laws were changing and keeping the safety of the worker in mind. Many of the fire fighters who were now being hired carried with them medical training from their days in the service.Aside from the laundry duties which was falling by the wayside, the Company was beginning to utilize the fire fighters in a full time fire protection roll. Training was always at the top of the list in a large industrial complex, but moving to the forefront was the attention paid to medical and ambulance. Many of the fire fighters had had some medical training in the service and it was now being put to a practical use. The medical services really moved forward around 1971.In 1958 the Company was hit by hard economic times and the fire department lost about half of it's compliment. The fire station in the 60's was running with about 60 fire fighters. At one time the Chief of the Ford Rouge Fire Department was head of Corporate Fire along with a Deputy Chief, 6 Fire Inspectors, 3 Captains and 4 Lieutenants.The bulk of the work inside the station was the recharging of portable fire extinguishers that outfitted each of the buildings in the eleven hundred acre Rouge Complex. Sometime the recharge number of CO2, water, and dry chemical extinguishers reached over 150 extinguishers per shift. Along with the job of recharging and hydro testing extinguishers and fire hose, fire fighters would also handle the inspection, recharge and testing of fixed 150# 100 cylinder CO2 systems. Routine maintenance of fire hydrants was also expected. Building inspections became routine, fire hoses, fire extinguishers, fixed systems were and still are today checked on a monthly basis.The first ambulance arrived in the fire station around 1970. Before the ambulances were utilized the sick and injured were transported via company van to the onsite Medical Facility (Hospital) located east of the fire station on Road 4. Now when the ambulance would respond to the sick or injured from the fire station instructions were to pick up the nurse first from the Medical Facility (Hospital) and proceed to the location. It was about a year later because of medical response another ambulance was put into service as a back-up. By the late 1970's the fire fighters would become Emergency Medical Technicians.Up until 1973 those two pumpers mentioned above were still in service and finally replaced with a 1973 class A, enclosed cab pumper. In the summer of 1976 the new class A pumper was hit by a train behind the Stamping Plant and destroyed. In June of the same year a Fire Trucks Incorporated 1976 class A pumper replaced the engine that was hit by the train.The Ford Rouge Fire Department was represented by the Plant Protection Association 111 for many years and as the job evolved the PPA 111 could no longer represent the needs of a Professional Fire Department. It was March 7, 1980 that the Ford Motor Company Rouge Firefighters Union, Local I-35, of the International Association of Fire Fighters was first Chartered.It was around 1979 our management with its infinite wisdom tried to get rid of the fire department, laid 10 firefighters off, placed other management RAT's (Rouge Area Technicians or management people into jobs they knew little about, actually it was best for the Fire Department to see most these people leave and never return) and brought our numbers down from 54 to 18. Give credit where credit is due 22 years and quite a few new faces later the Ford Rouge Fire Department is as dedicated as it has always been. THERE WILL BE NO COMPROMISE OF HEALTH AND SAFETY on the part of this Fire Department.By 1982 all members were Emergency Medical Technicians. The job was also ever expanding and we took on unbelievable amounts of work and training. In the battle for survival we lost our 1976 FTI pumper, and management replaced it with a 1979 van. The van was equipped with everything for fire fighting, except the immediate availability of 500 gallons of water. The complex has a great number of fire hydrants and at that time one diesel and one electric fire pump both capable of producing in excess of 2500 gpm at 125 psi made sure we were never without water. That supply of water comes from the Rouge River.As the years passed into the late 80's and early 90's, the Fire Department was and is many things to the Rouge Complex. Fire fighters, Paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians, CPR instructors, extinguisher training classes, building inspectors, just to address some of our daily and ancillary duties.Today with 16 firefighters, 7 work a 10-14 shift and the others are either on days of afternoons..For Fire response we utilize a 2006 F-450 Pierce mini-pumper, 750 GPM Hale pump. 300 gallons of water and 30 gallons of foam with a CAF system. For medical emergencies we have a front line 1999 Ford, American Emergency Vehicles, Trauma Hawk and a back-up 1993 Ford (van type) Wheeled Coach. When responding to any confined space, press release, or high angle rescue we have a 1992 Ford F-SuperDuty, Wheeled Coach heavy rescue. This rescue carries everything from it's own generator and lights to fresh air ventilation fans, anchor plates, double pulleys, anything needed to successfully pull off a rescue.In May of 2005 Ford Motor Company made the decision to seprate themselves from the Security and Fire business and sold Local I-35's collective bargaining agreement to a private security company (who shall remain nameless). To this day the firefighters of Local I-35 still provide the best professional fire and emergency service to the employees of the Ford Rouge Center, we just receive a different paycheck.The history story is not complete, there will be more to follow, so please stay tuned.Cute MySpace Layouts and Free MySpace Layouts Funny Videos at www.JungleRiot.com
