Denis Leary was on CBS's "Early Show" Monday to talk about his new position as executive producer of the documentary about Detroit firefighters called "Burn."
"Every fire department in the United States in the major cities, they are all under duress financially, and the reason for that is because they never go on strike, and they never will," he said.
"So, naturally they are the first people to be cut financially on the totem pole when there's a problem. In these times, you can imagine how difficult it is for any fire department."
The star of the FX series "Rescue Me" told the show's hosts that Detroit has been especially hard hit by the struggling economy.
"In Detroit, they were already under the gun. When the recession hit, it was 10 times worse," he said. "So this department is financially strapped, and the amount of fires that are being set in that city is outrageous."
Some fire companies are battling 10 fires a night and can see another fire start down the road while on the scene of a previous one, Leary added.
"What this department is going through now, one of the reasons I got involved is, I just think it's a glaring example of the financial distress but it's also -- it shows you what they do and, you know it doesn't matter what situation we're in, the first responders are always the fire department . . . I just want to get them the right equipment and the right training facilities."
A portion of the proceeds of the film will go toward helping purchase equipment for firefighters in Detroit.
Donations to the film can be made at Detroitfirefilm.org or Kickstarter.com.
