In his first months as the new head of Detroit’s beleaguered Fire Department, Eric Jones is building bridges with union leaders, touting improved response times and a decline in arson fires. But aging infrastructure, worker safety and wages are among the issues that remain on his hefty to-do list.
Jones, 47, was appointed to the Detroit Fire Department’s top post in October. That same day, two of the department’s emergency medical technicians suffered serious injuries in a vicious box cutter attack — the most violent among 17 assaults on city EMTs in a one-year span.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Detroit News, the fire commissioner detailed the challenges facing the fire department and plans for boosting morale, pay and safety training for the city’s first responders. Outdated infrastructure and technology, Jones says, are getting a revamp.
“When I wake up in the morning, it’s challenging. But I know at the end of day when I look back, I’m going to be able to walk away knowing that this place is better than it was when I first arrived,” Jones said. “That’s the goal.”
Among his first acts, Jones in November instituted new safety training for the department’s EMTs. Instructors are being schooled on techniques for interacting with violent individuals or people with mental illness. Separately, a two-month defensive tactics program begins this month.
“Any protective measures that we can put in place to make sure our employees make it safely home, we’re going to do it,” he said.