By: Erich Roden
Detroit. These days, all you have to do is utter the name and your head will fill with all of the preconceived notions you have about socioeconomic demise; they’re all found in Detroit. What’s found is a City that may have tipped over the point of comeback, of prosperity; A City with abandoned and vacant buildings the sizes of small Cities themselves: the Packard Plant, train stations, blocks of boarded-up taxpayers and once happy private dwellings…
There is no shortage of sensationalist and sociology academic-type photographers who are willing to document the demise of one of America’s former gateways to the American Dream. Their muse is obvious, blight. It’s the usual fare when photos of Detroit are used in major media outlets and markets. What we don’t often see in this media are those who are left to defend it, Detroit’s domestic soldiers; Detroit’s firefighters.
While there are several reputable photographers who grace the internet with photographic depictions of Detroit’s bravest, one seems to be on a mission to chronicle the unrelenting fires in Detroit and those determined enough to hang on: Dennis Walus.
Dennis’ mission is not to simply show the world what happens after the politicians, reporters and sociologists leave Detroit’s neighborhoods for the day, it’s also to keep the traditions of the fire service intact. Nothing keeps firefighters and their traditions together better than the next fire. And there’s always a next fire in Detroit. Anticipation of the next fire notwithstanding, this summer has been unusually busy for Detroit’s firefighter- even for Detroit standards- and Dennis has been there to see it all and photograph it.
Dennis recently documented and witnessed the “Detroit Firestorm,” as it has been aptly named, that recently brought eighty-five fires in five hours for the Detroit Fire Department. He also witnessed the tragic Jefferson and Drexel fire that nearly claimed four firefighters. In fact, Dennis’ photos of this fire were used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Detroit Fire Department’s Arson Investigation Bureau during the fire’s investigation. Ergo, Dennis’ mission also serves a purpose in bringing those willing to contribute to Detroit’s demise to justice. We should never take our fire photographers for granted. What we may miss, they capture forever. And perhaps put arsonists away forever in the process.
Dennis also documents what a fire department who is continually doing more with less can accomplish; try counting the number of firefighters not working in any one of his photos; good luck finding one. Detroit’s firefighters just get it done. All you have to do is take in a fire or two in Detroit to see what experience looks like after years of unyielding fire duty. And any Detroit firefighter will tell you no one should experience the same burden. That’s humility: a basic tenet of the fire service.
Dennis, like most fire photographers, enjoys snapping the group photos after a fire; and he doesn’t mind getting the incredible action Detroit’s fires offer on film either. Dennis wants everyone who decides to take up fire photography to understand that they are documenting “the best job in the world.” And to be smart about the photos they take: they may not only show the world a City most can’t even fathom comparatively, but also the manner in which some are choosing to destroy it.
