Grand Rapids has experienced a rash of fires in the past two months, and the city is urging residents to take advantage of a federally sponsored free program to examine private residences for fire safety and prevention. Residents received postcards in the mail with details on how to participate. However, according to guidelines posted on the City of Grand Rapids’s website, this $211,850 in grant money from the Department of Homeland Security will not be available to help occupants of rental properties at this time, which is unfortunate as most of the larger recent fires affecting numerous people have occurred in rental properties.
On July 24, a large apartment building on the West Side, at the intersection of Fourth Street and Davis Street was gutted by fire. Firemen worked through the night to put it out. The old building was a compartmentalized structure and a challenge for the firemen to put out. The structure is a total loss, with all the tenants losing everything to the fire, but fortunately no lives were taken. There was speculation that a child burning leaves may have started the fire, but so far two children who lived in the building have been questioned and the origin of the fire remains undetermined.
On July 5, another multi-resident apartment house burned as a result of an explosion witnesses first thought might have been a meth lab exploding. Fortunately all of the residents of the house at 133 Union Street were able to evacuate the building, and the fire was contained. Later it was determined that the explosion was not meth lab related.
Also in northeast Grand Rapids, another structure was completely leveled by what firemen think was a gas explosion on May 27. Prior to the fire neighbors reported smelling gas near the N. Park Court house.
While fire safety training will help residents who are concerned and motivated lessen the chances they will be involved in home fires, tenants who live in multiple-unit buildings unfortunately can’t do much about the dangerous habits of their neighbors, even if they learn to install fire detectors and make a point of regularly checking them for functionality. And there’s little any of us can do about the aging gas line infrastructure that supplies natural gas to our houses and businesses.
William Luttrell, a project manager for BGL Asset Services, oversees the repair and replacement of oil and natural gas lines, and understands how society relies upon oil and gas companies to do their due diligence in maintaining their pipelines. Too often these companies focus on profit over safety and depend on their infrastructure lasting a bit longer, he says. Unfortunately, when they miscalculate the state of repair of their pipelines, people, animals, and entire ecosystems suffer. While the average citizen has no idea what state the pipeline under his house is in, all of us can be aware when we smell gas and report it immediately to the local gas company.
This is the second summer in a row that firefighters in Grand Rapids have received grant money for fire prevention. Last summer, in 2013, they received a $244.000 grant from the same program. We can only speculate when grant money will be directed at addressing the safety issues of Grand Rapids renters.