Robinwood Fire: DTE Energy¿s Explanation

DETROIT - The fire commissioner confirms that a blaze was caused by an arcing line in one east side neighborhood on Robinwood near Van Dyke. With all the wind, the flames jumped from house to house.

People in that neighborhood have been upset with DTE Energy because they said they called and told them there was a problem with the line before the fire happened. Wednesday, the company had an explanation.

Cell phone video from Tuesday evening shows the scene right after an arcing falling wire on a windy day caught a garage on Robinwood on fire. It would quickly spread and engulf a neighborhood of abandoned houses and family homes.

’It was jumping like a jumping jack; just boom, boom, boom, all the way right down the line,’ said Ron Heuer, who recorded the fire on his cell phone. ’I’ve never in my life seen anything like that.’

Heuer’s mother-in-law and her daughter had called DTE three times on Friday to report flickering lights due to someone stealing power in the neighborhood.

By Tuesday morning, her lights still flickering, Shirley Hargrave was seeing actual flames arcing coming from the line. Once again, she called DTE.

’She told me, `Well, someone will come out as soon as possible.’ I said, `But, my house could catch on fire.’ She said, `Then you need to call 911,’’ said Hargrave.

Tuesday afternoon, Hargrave said she did see a DTE truck. She tried to flag it down, but it didn’t stop. She called the power company again.

’She said they knew what they were doing. Give them time,’ Hargrave said.

We asked Fire Commissioner James Mack about the allegations. He was clearly concerned.

’I’m not happy about that, but that’s something that I think the department needs to take up with DTE,’ said Mack.

FOX 2 also contacted DTE. They tell us they did respond to Hargrave’s call, found and fixed a problem with the line between Robinwood and Hollywood. The line that fell is between Robinwood and Quinn behind Hargrave’s house, not north of it.

DTE says power theft is proving to be a huge problem.

’We’ve had people hurt. We’ve had people killed because of theft, and we have damage to our equipment, which can cause problems and may have led to this one. We don’t know for sure, but there’s the potential that we need to investigate,’ said DTE Energy Vice President of Distribution Operations Vincent Dow.