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Detroit has one of the busiest fire departments in the nation. One problem in the city causes fires to be worse than they should be: broken fire hydrants. It's a problem city hall doesn't want to talk about.

Steve Neavling founded the online journalism¹ site Motor City Muckraker. Frankly², Neavling is a thorn in the side of the Detroit Mayor's office. He pokes³ and prods⁴ and provokes City Hall.

Right now he's working to document every fire in the city for a year. One thing he's noticed is a lot of broken fire hydrants. He says because it sometimes takes extra time to find a working hydrant, a house fire can spread to the next house.

We drove to a neighborhood where he says that's happened.

"We're on 28th Street. And in a two-block area of 28th Street there were three separate fires that caught six houses and buildings on fire all within a two block area," Neavling said. "And this house was one of them, and as you can see this was a large two-family brick house that is leveled to the ground. And the reason is right across the street is a broken hydrant," he added.

Neavling says he asked people at city hall about the broken hydrants. He says they estimated there were about 70 broken hydrants in Detroit. That just didn't seem right to him, so he surveyed 15% of the city's nearly 30,000 hydrants.

"With the 15%, we found 279 broken hydrants. And if you extrapolate that, you know, there's quite a few broken hydrants, a lot more than the 50, 60, 70 hydrants the city thought," Neavling said.

If you extrapolate that, it means more than 1,800 broken hydrants.

The Fire Commissioner's office did not respond to a request for an interview about the problem.

Steve Neavling filed a Freedom of Information request with city hall to see how bad the problem is. It was denied because the city says it would endanger the public if arsonists⁶ knew which fire hydrants were broken. He's now suing the city for the information.

I caught up with Shawn McCarty at a fire call. He's a captain, but was acting-chief that day. He says the broken fire hydrant problem is worse in the winter.

"The problem is more so when it's colder outside. The hydrants freeze. But, generally, in temperatures like this, we don't have much of a problem with fire hydrants," McCarty explained.

That's because some of the hydrants have small leaks that cause the freezing. During the summer, it's just a leak. Many other hydrants are just broken and need to be replaced.

Rank and file firefighters have been warned not to talk to the news media about problems within the department. However, I was able to talk to four firefighters from three different firehouses. They didn't want to be recorded, but they did confirm more buildings and houses burn because of broken hydrants.

The firefighters also told me about a smart phone app that could allow firefighters to report broken hydrants and then the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department could fix or replace them. The problem, according to my sources, is that the app has been activated⁷ on phones only at a couple of the city's 37 firehouses.

DFD Battalion⁸ Chief Shawn McCarty says it's being phased in.

"I have it. Every firehouse doesn't have it. It's a work in motion, but we're getting better at it every day," he said.

McCarty wasn't sure when it would be activated for all the firehouses. City hall has not responded to requests for an interview about that.

Even if it were activated, it's not clear the city has the money to fix all of the broken hydrants.

The cost is more houses and buildings burning. About 70% of the fires in Detroit are due to arson⁵ of vacant properties.

And Steve Neavling with Motor City Muckraker says he noted⁹ one other thing in his hydrant survey.

"The poorer the neighborhood, generally, the more hydrants we were seeing broken," he said.

The Detroit Fire Department will be getting some new fire engines this summer, and it's brought on new trainees¹⁰ to help out with other problems, including broken equipment and staff shortages.

Assistance in reporting this piece came from Bill McGraw with Bridge Magazine, a DJC partner.

Support for the Detroit Journalism Cooperative on Michigan Radio comes from the John S. and James L. Knight¹¹ Foundation, Renaissance¹² Journalism's Michigan Reporting Initiative, and the Ford¹³ Foundation.

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

4 prods   

n.刺，戳( prod的名词复数 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳v.刺，戳( prod的第三人称单数 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• Electric bulb and socket, with a pair of prods for testing for element shorts and defects. 电灯，插座和一对探针，以供试验电池的短路和检查故障用。 来自辞典例句
• Make off the cuff remarks that are often seen as personal prods. 做出非正规的评价，让人不能接受。 来自互联网

5 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

6 arsonists   

n.纵火犯( arsonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The factory was destroyed in a fire started by arsonists. 工厂在纵火犯引起的火灾中烧毀了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland said suspected arsonists could face murder charges. 澳大利亚总检察长罗伯特麦克莱兰说，怀疑纵火犯可能面临谋杀指控。 来自互联网

7 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

8 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

11 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

12 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

13 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。