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The documentary 'Burn,' which premiered this week at the Tribeca Film Festival, follows Detroit firefighters facing a staggering problem: the city has three times as many structure fires as Los Angeles, a city more than five times its size. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.
Cash-strapped, arson-prone Detroit could let fires in vacant buildings and homes burn themselves out to save the city Fire Department money.
The fiery notion from Detroit’s Executive Fire Commissioner Donald Austin surfaced as the documentary “Burn,” chronicling a year of Motor City firefighters’ camaraderie in the face of declining budgets and increasing fire calls, made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
“We are in no way looking to 'let the city' burn, this is about saving lives and money,” Austin said, according to a report Tuesday by NBC station WDIV in Detroit. “My department is strapped, the budget is strapped, and it’s time to look at a new way of doing things.”
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is looking to trim $250 million and cut more than 2,500 jobs from the city’s 2012-13 budget. The cuts would lower the fire department budget below this fiscal year's $183 million.
Austin's proposal would allow vacant buildings to burn if they're more than 50 percent ablaze — as long as they're not a risk to inhabited structures and the weather is favorable.
Max Ortiz / The Detroit News via AP file
An arson investigator photographs a fire at a Detroit building complex at Sycamore and Grand River on March, 28 2012.
Bing’s office is not taking any position on Austin’s idea until he makes a formal proposal of his annual budget request, the mayor’s spokeswoman, Naomi Patton, told msnbc.com.
Detroit Fire Fighters Association President Daniel McNamara said he opposes Austin's idea of letting vacant homes burn, unless they're on a predetermined demolition list, WDIV reported.
“This is a long overdue idea, really,” Jo Robins Davis, a Detroit-area lawyer specializing in fire insurance claims, told msnbc.com. As long as they can keep the burns controlled, the idea would work for her, she said.
“They’re going to be torn down anyway,” she said of the vacant structures.
Austin has other ideas to save money, WDIV reported: Ask the U.S. Navy's construction division, the Seabees, to level 10,000 vacant and dilapidated homes; or create a demolition unit in the Fire Department to use heavy equipment to level the remnants of newly burned buildings.
Detroit has 80,000 abandoned structures, "Burn" filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez say.
Film-makers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez discuss the hardships facing Detroit's fire department, as documented in their upcoming film, "BURN."
Austin said 40 to 60 percent of the fires in Detroit are in vacant structures. Last year alone, the Fire Department fielded 30,000 fire calls. The city of 714,000 sees 30 structure fires a day. In contrast, Los Angeles, a city of nearly 4 million, faces just 11 structure fires a day.
Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com
To illuminate the obstacles that Detroit firefighters face, filmmakers Putnam and Sanchez documented a year in the life of the men and women tasked with saving their beloved city. The film features video shot by the firefighters with cameras attached to their helmets.
“On our first two nights filming, we went to 21 structure fires with one engine company,” recalled Putnam, who said that he and Sanchez were inspired by the 2008 death of Detroit firefighter Walter Harris.
Burned on purpose
Arson in Detroit rose in 2010 to 1,082 incidents, up from 636 the year earlier, according to FBI crime statistics. Insurance companies paid $237.8 million for damage caused by arsons or suspicious blazes in 2010, the Detroit News reported.
Why is arson so frequent?
“I think Detroit's a place where people feel disenfranchised and there aren't a lot of ways to express themselves,” Putnam told NBC News. The filmmaker broke the reasons down into categories: arson for profit, homeowners who are upside down on their mortgages, and arson for revenge. Other times it’s just arson for kicks. “Like one of the firefighters says, ‘a gallon of gasoline is cheaper than a movie ticket,’” Putnam said.
Scrappers, who strip vacant buildings of valuable materials, are also a problem. After stripping away all metal piping, they can leave an exposed gas line to catch fire, which is what happened April 10, when fire destroyed two abandoned buildings and damaged the occupied family home of Tiffanie Alston, 31.
She grabbed her children — 9, 10 and 11 years old — and then headed to the basement to help her 61-year-old father.
"People go in there and scrap all the time, and it was just a matter of time till it got set on fire," she told The Detroit News.
In the 1980s, Detroit was known for Devil’s Night fires, which peaked in 1984 with more than 800 fires over Halloween. In 1985, an Angel’s Night campaign began to counter the arsons. Firefighters responded to only 94 calls Oct. 29-31, 2011, according to the mayor’s office.
'Katrina without the hurricane'
Wide swaths of Detroit consist of scattered occupied homes surrounded by boarded-up structures, burned-out buildings and weed-covered vacant lots, WDIV reported.
The city’s population, which peaked when the post-World War II auto industry boomed in the 1950s at nearly 2 million people, has dwindled. Now Detroit’s population has plummeted to 714,000, the Census reported last year.
As one firefighter in the film put it, “This has been Katrina without the hurricane.”
Now Bing’s planned budget cuts could make firefighters' jobs even tougher. With starting salaries at approximately $30,000 a year, most firefighters already have second jobs.
From their extensive time with the Fire Department, Putnam and Sanchez saw firsthand the real impact the city’s budget problems had on the firefighters. Many of their boots were secured with duct tape, some were missing gloves, and they were still cutting holes in roofs with axes, the filmmakers said.
“I think we think that's all being taken care of, and it's not being taken care of,” said Sanchez. “We need to be there for them because they're always there for us.”
Funding for the film came from corporate sponsors like General Motors and an outpouring of donations from supporters who saw preview clips online. To do their part, Putnam and Sanchez are donating portion of any proceeds from the film to the Leary Firefighters Foundation to help supply firefighters with equipment.
For Putnam, the story of this one city’s firefighters is symbolic of what the rest of the country’s fire departments may soon be facing, as budget are slashed in almost every state. And Putnam and Sanchez want people to remember that, as heroic as their work may be, firefighters are human after all.
“People tend to think of firefighters as being indestructible,” Putnam said. “They're not indestructible. If you don't give them the equipment they need and you send them into situations they shouldn't be going into, they can get hurt and they can get killed. And it's easy to forget that.”
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AP file
Bonasera, portrayed by Frank Puglia, asks Don Corleone, portrayed by Marlon Brando, at right, for a favor in a scene from the 1972 movie 'The Godfather.'
Forty years ago, on March 24, 1972, Francis Ford Coppola's film "The Godfather" was released throughout the U.S.
Are you a big fan? Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the classic movie, considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time.
Villagers who witnessed the methodical killing are asking for an execution and the U.S. is reportedly considering charges that would carry the death penalty for the soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Defense officials have told NBC News that the Army staff sergeant who allegedly shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, admitted his actions to fellow soldiers just before he was taken into custody.
"I did it," he is said to have told them.
According to the officials, a search party that included helicopters was formed after an Afghan soldier reported the American had left their small remote outpost in the early morning hours. In the meantime, the base received word that a number of civilians had been killed in a shooting spree at a nearby village.
The officials also said they’ve received reports that the soldier was having marital problems and had recently received a troubling letter or email from his wife. According to one official, after four combat deployments it’s not unusual there would be stress on the family.
Defense officials also told NBC News that investigators have reason to believe that alcohol "may" have been a contributing factor in the shooting spree.
The investigation found bottles of alcohol on the small remote base where the staff sergeant was deployed. The officials emphasize "may" because they say that nowhere in the reporting from the field is there any indication the staff sergeant was inebriated.
The soldier, reportedly married with two children, enlisted in the Army soon after the terror attacks of Sept. 11 and did three combat tours in Iraq before arriving in Kandahar, near where the shootings took place, in December 2011.
US soldier accused in Afghan massacre had brain injury history
Reports that the soldier had received post-traumatic stress disorder examinations are not unusual, since every soldier coming out of combat is routinely screened for PTSD.
The soldier suffered some minor traumatic brain injury in a rollover in Iraq in 2010, but that part of his medical history does not appear at this point to be a factor, according to the officials. They also said the man has a clean medical and behavior record.
Obama: Killing Afghans as serious as killing Americans
Col. Gary Kolb, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition in Kabul, told The Associated Press a 48-hour probable cause assessment has been completed and that the service member continues to be confined.
Additionally, the officials told NBC News that the the military is considering capital murder charges against the soldier, meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted. They said the military also intends to conduct his court martial hearing in Afghanistan. Not only would it send the right signal to the Afghan people, officials said, but trying him in the United States or another country in the region would also present a logistics nightmare given the number of witnesses that would be expected to testify.
Military investigators in Afghanistan hope to file charges and release the identity of the soldier by the end of the week, but warn it could take another two weeks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
On Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where the soldier suspected of shooting 16 Afghan civilians came from, the military had previously launched an investigation into the military installation's health care system after nearly 300 soldiers had their PTSD diagnoses reversed. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
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More information on the alleged killing of 16 civilians in Afghanistan by a U.S. soldier continues to surface, and the Morning Joe panel wonders how the Army Staff Sergeant was able to leave his base to conduct the shootings. Vanity Fair's Sebastian Junger and MSNBC's Col. Jack Jacobs join the conversation.
NEWS ANALYSIS
At the moment, we know only that a 38-year-old U.S. Army Staff Sergeant left his post and shot to death 16 civilians in Afghanistan, including nine children and three women, and surrendered soon after the incident. Others were wounded and may not survive. The sergeant's wife and children in the United States have been relocated and are under the protection of the American government.
News of the attacks has spread slowly across the country, but thousands of people took to the streets in the eastern Afghanistan Tuesday to demonstrate against the killings, burning an effigy of President Barack Obama and chanting “Death to American.”
There have been NATO casualties in the area in the wake of the incident, but most of the American activity is not daily active combat with the enemy, but instead public works projects and the training of Afghans. In this regard, it is telling that the sergeant was able to walk unaccompanied and unmolested to the sites where the civilians were killed.
Protests break out over Afghan shootings
He is in American custody and, pursuant to the agreement between the United States and Afghanistan, will be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This means that a General Officer, probably John Allen, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan, will appoint an officer, almost certainly a military lawyer, to investigate the incident. The investigator will interview witnesses and
then make a recommendation to the commander about how to deal with the case.
This process, called an Article 32 Investigation, is the military equivalent of a grand jury, but unlike in a civilian procedure, the accused can be represented by counsel and cross-examine witnesses. The commander can follow the investigator's recommendation or not, as he sees fit, but in this case if the investigating officer recommends a trial by court-martial, you can bet the sergeant will be tried.
The U.S. Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, comes from a U.S. base with a troubled history. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
There has been much discussion about the fact that the non-commissioned officer was on his fourth trip to Southwest Asia, implying that the stress of repeated deployments may have been the proximate cause of a breakdown that resulted in this tragic violence. While we should not be sanguine about the huge demands we place on our undermanned and overtaxed forces, specious arguments justifying the outburst are easy but dangerous to construct.
Most murderers have not served in the armed forces, and there are many thousands of American troops who have murdered nobody, but have more deployments than this suspect. Coincidence is not causation.
NYT: An Afghan elder comes home to find a massacre
Breakdown in the chain-of-command
What seems most striking about the incident is the failure of this sergeant's chain-of-command. The camp is guarded all the time, and particular attention is always given to security at night, when this soldier departed. There is a sergeant of the relief, supervised by a sergeant of the guard, supervised by an officer of the guard, supervised by an officer of the day and a field officer of the day.
Furthermore, troops live together continuously, often in close quarters, and it is impossible to envision a situation in which nobody had any inkling of his propensity for violence. He worked for another sergeant who worked for a lieutenant or a captain, all of whom lived with him. The investigation will include interviews of his comrades, his leaders and his family. His snail mail, email and social sites will be scoured, and all of it is likely to reveal that his commander either did know, or should have known, that this violence was possible, or even probable, and that this man should have been removed from the unit.
If this sounds familiar, it is because the situation is similar to that of Maj. Nidal Hasan. His supervisors knew that he was unstable and did nothing about it, and in 2009 Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas.
For the moment, the National Command Authority has reiterated its commitment to the mission in Afghanistan, with some withdrawal of conventional troops slated to begin in 2014. But with an increasing number of influential people, including prominent Republicans, convinced that we should withdraw sooner rather than later, it's certain that there is already a plan for an accelerated pull-out beginning in 2013, soon after our national election.
Nevertheless, whether troops are in Afghanistan or the United States or anywhere else, the stringent and vital requirement of good leadership is the same. Being in the uniform of the U.S. Armed Forces is not just another job and indeed is like no other endeavor in the world.
Yes, we ask far too much of brave people who are willing to sacrifice for us, but when their leaders forget or ignore their awesome responsibilities, the result is often tragedy.
Read more from Col. Jack Jacobs
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Outrage is continuing to spread over a U.S. soldier’s rogue shooting of 16 Afghan civilians in the middle of the night. Local officials say the shooting spree killed nine children, three women and four men.
While the news slowly trickles through Afghanistan, U.S. officials are rushing to contain the damage from the tragic attack, promising to punish whoever is behind the incident.
But there are fears that the attacks could spark even more violence from an Afghan public already angered by the U.S. and NATO presence in their country.
NBC’s Atia Abawi is in Kabul covering the story. Earlier today she answered reader questions about the attack and the Afghan reaction to it.
Click below to replay the chat.
In the days ahead of Saturday's South Carolina primary NBC's Tom Brokaw learned about the issues most important to people in the Palmetto State for the Nightly News series Main Street, USA.
By Tom Brokaw
NBC News
Columbia, S.C.
There are only two days left until South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary and a new NBC News/Marist poll shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is gaining ground. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a 10-point lead over Gingrich, but Gingrich now has the support of 24 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the state – and the support of the latest candidate to drop-out, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
I spent two full days in South Carolina, from Greenville-Spartanburg to Columbia and many stops between, including the old mill towns of Laurens and Newberry. The Palmetto State has so many parts -- the coastal areas, the midlands, the western front -- and they're all distinct in their geography and culture. But after speaking with people throughout the region, I found nearly everyone agreed that this year the economy trumps all in South Carolina, a deeply religious state where social issues such as abortion and gay rights have played larger roles in the past.
NBC's Tom Brokaw spoke with Ron Paul supporters at a "debate watch party" at Bailey's Pub and Grille in Greenville South Carolina.
Ernie Segars, the county administrator in Laurens, S.C., said although religious issues are “very important” to voters, “jobs and the economy are the major issues right now.”
“I think when the economy’s better and things are improved, and certainly the social issues are important and will have a role,” Segars said.
Watch Tom Brokaw tonight on “Nightly News” as he connects with voters in the political battleground of South Carolina, the second in a series of reports called “Main Street, USA.” Click HERE to watch the first report, from Iowa.
Gov. Nikki Haley, a Tea Party darling who has struggled with her ratings her first year in office, echoed that sentiment.
“We’re looking for a president that understands it’s all about jobs,” said Haley, who has endorsed Romney. “The hardest part about my job has been the Obama administration … The people of South Carolina saw that we passed by the will of the people legal immigration reform and the Department of Justice stopped it … The people have experienced the mandates and the stops of the federal government and they’re frustrated with it. And so they’re looking for someone that can go in day one and say, ‘Lay off the states, let them do their jobs and let’s get people back to work.’”
South Carolina's unemployment rate has hovered close to 10 percent, even with a new BMW plant and the arrival of some support industries.
I also spoke with the state’s U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican who is being criticized by his own party and a variety of other party activists for his occasional departure from Republican orthodoxy.
“The question for the Republican party, would we put raising revenue on the table to solve our entitlement problem?” he asked. “Will our Democratic friends put on the table working longer and reducing benefits? And every time you put these ideas on the table, people come at you pretty hard.”
NBC's Tom Brokaw speaks with South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham.
After talking with dozens of people, I encountered the most passionate opinions at a Ron Paul debate party at Bailey’s sports bar in Greenville: all working class and mostly young, many of whom had not been involved in politics before.
I asked Sandy Monroe what she found so appealing about Ron Paul.
“He challenged my ideas,” she said. “He sent me back to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and to the Founding Fathers … He could win if the people understood what he stood for. If people like me would actually go study what he says, it makes sense. And it’s our freedom that he’s talking about.”
But for Robert Whitney, “it’s a trust issue.”
“Everything that Romney says, he’s flip-flopped too much,” Whitney said. “When there’s big government people saying that Ron Paul has integrity, that he’s a man that stands by his word, then I mean, I think that’s all the proof you need.”
Tune in to “Nightly News” tonight for more of Tom Brokaw’s reporting from South Carolina and join the conversation on the “Nightly News” Facebook page.
PRESS RELEASE: Clinton takes on special assignment adding to the “Making a Difference” Franchise
Chelsea Clinton is teaming up with "Rock Center with Brian Williams" and "NBC Nightly News" as a Special Correspondent, the network announced today. Clinton's role with the shows and the network will be to highlight stories within the "Making a Difference" franchise.
"Making a Difference" segments have a history of profiling organizations and individuals who represent the best of what works in the United States and around the world, frequently emphasizing stories about everyday people doing extraordinary things. Clinton’s dedication to public service, solution-based advocacy and focus on empowering people across the country and around the globe resonates with the purpose and content of "Making a Difference." Her position with NBC News will still allow Clinton continue her work with the Clinton Foundation and her studies in parallel.
"Chelsea is a remarkable woman who will be a great addition to NBC News. Given her vast experiences, it's as though Chelsea has been preparing for this opportunity her entire life," said Steve Capus, President of NBC News. "We are proud she will be bringing her considerable, unique talents and dedication to NBC News."
"Our Making a Difference segments have become a signature of the broadcast. They adhere to a simple goal of highlighting the good works being done across the country and around the world," said Brian Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor of Nightly News and Rock Center. "Chelsea Clinton has led a remarkable life. She possesses an uncommon understanding of humanity -- on city streets, across this country and around the globe. We are so excited she's joining us to tell the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things."
"People who imagine and implement solutions to challenges in their own lives, in their communities, in our country and in our world have always inspired me," said Clinton. "I hope telling stories through "Making a Difference" – as in my academic work and non-profit work – will help me to live my grandmother's adage of "Life is not about what happens to you, but about what you do with what happens to you," Clinton continued. "I have long been impressed that Brian and his team at NBC place consistent importance on sharing stories of empowerment that in turn, help empower other people and families. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this tradition."
NBC News has been a leading source of global news and information for more than 75 years. Every week, NBC News provides more than 30 hours of television news programming, including the top-rated NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Today and Meet the Press programs. Dateline NBC and Rock Center with Brian Williams are the network’s primetime newsmagazines. NBC is the only broadcast news division with an affiliated cable channel, MSNBC, which provides 24-hour-a-day coverage of news events around the globe. Online, MSNBC.com is the number one video news site on the Internet. NBC News has also built an engaged following on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
In addition to its leading news programs, the network's portfolio includes cutting-edge platforms such as NBC News Mobile and NBC News Radio, and innovative ventures such as Peacock Productions, an award-winning in house production company; NBC Learn, the network's educational arm; NBC News Archives, a sales website leveraging over 70 years' worth of NBC News content; and TheGrio.com, a video-centric news community devoted to the African-American audience. NBCNewschannel is the network’s liaison to over 200 affiliate stations across the country.
Chelsea Clinton has worked at McKinsey & Company and Avenue Capital and studied at Stanford, Oxford and Columbia Universities. She is currently pursuing a doctorate at Oxford, working at New York University and working with the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. Her recent professional and academic work, including her recent academic publications, have focused on questions around how to improve access to relatively low-cost, high-quality health care services around the world, for both acute and chronic health care needs, as well as questions of empowerment and equal rights, including areas related to health, the arts and focused more holistically, on areas that particularly concern children. Chelsea currently serves on the boards of the Clinton Foundation, the School of American Ballet, Common Sense Media, the Weill Cornell Medical College and IAC. Chelsea and her husband Marc live in New York City.
NBC News has asked me to write a few words about my experience this past
week in Dadaab, Kenya. I'd like to say that all my preconceived notions
about the situation in Eastern Kenya and Southern Somalia - the poverty and
hunger, the hopelessness and helplessness - were wrong. No, that's exactly
what I witnessed. It's heartbreaking and sad. It makes you want to empty
your wallet for every desperate family you encounter, but you can't. I feel
wrenched with guilt about my cushy life and never again will I feel
overwhelmed by a pile of laundry or a long line at the post office.
What really struck me was the resilience of the human spirit and the
brightness in the eyes and smiles of the children. Many of the young people
we encountered had never even seen their own image. Watching their big eyes
light up when they saw themselves on the playback of my digital camera was
such a thrill for me. These kids have nothing; no toys, no school, no
shoes, no bath or toilet, no health care, little food, and some might say no
hope. Many have witnessed the worst atrocities imaginable, but still they
radiate joy and innocence.
I wish every child (and every adult, for that matter) in the privileged west
could see what I saw this week; not just on television, but in person, where
you can shake a hand and look eye-to-eye. It could only make each one of us
a kinder, more empathetic, and more grateful person.
Robert Colvill is part of the NBC team that has been covering the dire situation in the famine-stricken Horn of Africa. He sent us these photos he took in the refugee camps of Dadaab, Kenya.
All images: Copyright Robert Colvill, NBC News
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