City, Woods Approve Automatic Aid Agreement

The and councils both unanimously approved related to fire response.

The automatic aid agreement essentiallly piggy-backs on the mutual aid agreement already in place for the five Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods but changes the response for fires to particular locations or to any working structure fire, which is any structure that is engulfed in flames.

Essentially the agreement will allow for public safety officers to automatically respond to working fires beyond their city limits as soon as the call arrives to dispatchers rather than waiting for the initial responders to arrive and call for a second, third and fourth alarm.

Currently the public safety officers from all six cities work together under the mutual aid agreement and when it comes to fires, they respond to a neighboring city's fires only when specifically called upon due to the extent of the fire.

The agreement is the result of the , which had . Among to implement automatic aid, to make equipment purchases as one unit rather than five and .

Although approved by two of the five city councils Monday, the remaining three must also approve the agreement before it will go into effect. City Manager Pete Dame said Monday that council is to address the agreement next week during its meeting. .

City councilman Chris Walsh said he was pleased to see progress as a result of the ad hoc committee, noting the agreement is "only a baby step," but a step nonetheless after more than two years of work.

City councilman Andrew Turnbull pointed out that the use of automatic aid provides more of a precautionary response to fires, which he said was a good thing.

The Woods council did not discuss the agreement but did unanimously approve it.

The should be considered for automatic aid. Generally, this type of response is done for any building that is of significant size, houses a significant number of people or poses a significant risk to the community if it catches fire. Hospitals are generally such structures.

Additionally, the agreement calls for automatic aid to be implemented any time a "working fire" is called in, meaning flames are visable to any structure, whether it is large or an individual home, Woods City manager Al Fincham said Monday.

Those buildings identified as potential for higher risk include:

• Beaumont Hospital Grosse Pointe
• Maire Elementary School
• Cottage Hospital and Medical Center
• Grosse Pointe South High School
• Grosse Pointe Academy
• the Country Club of Detroit
• the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club
• the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
• Vernier Terrace Apartments
• Grosse Pointe North High School
• University Liggett Upper School
• both Sunrise Assisted Living Senior Centers
• Berkshire Condominiums
• Pointe Plaza Office Building/ VanElslander Cancer Center
• St. John Hospital's North underground receiving docks