Firefighters rescued Ivory Ivey, whose 4-year-old sister accidentally started the fire, but Ivory later died from smoke inhalation, an official said.
The Detroit Fire Department is now facing criticism because the first rig on the scene -- a smaller vehicle being used to transport firefighters because their engine is out for repairs -- was unable to pump water.
At a news conference Wednesday, Executive Fire Commissioner Donald Austin said the rig, a ladder truck and engine arrived at the home on Cooper within a short time of each other, allowing firefighters to knock down the blaze, get inside and find Ivory.
"I believe to the bottom of my heart, everything worked as it should," he said.
Austin said the fire run was created at 10:35 a.m., and companies were dispatched at 10:38 a.m. Within five minutes, they arrived at the home, he said.
Firefighters fought the blaze and began searching the front and rear of the home simultaneously. Ivory was found on the second floor underneath an air mattress.
The first rig at the scene was a smaller truck with the ability to pump water, but it's designed for extinguishing fires in parking structures, not homes, Austin said. He said the pump had been disengaged because anyone expected to use the rig has to be certified.
"We did not have, to my knowledge, a certified driver on that rig," he said.
Dan McNamara, head of the firefighters' union, questioned the decision to take a working pump out of service. He said firefighters couldn't enter the home without first knocking down fire blocking entranceways.
Victims have a greater chance of survival the sooner firefighters can get them out, McNamara said.
"In a life and death situation," he said, "every second matters."
Kenyatta Covington, 35, who said she is the girl's godmother, said she wonders whether the outcome would have been different had the first truck on the scene pumped water. She said Ivory's death has been difficult.
"You never expect death," she said. "You just never know when it's your time."
With the trucks arriving nearly simultaneously, Austin said the firefighters did everything they could.
"They expended every ounce of energy to effect that rescue, extinguish that fire and they did one heck of a job and there is no criticism to be brought upon the members of the Detroit Fire Department," he said. "Not one."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
