Benton Harbor cut fatal fires with data-driven inspections and connected response
Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety (MI) uses First Due to connect community risk reduction, inspections, hydrants, and response—so crews can prevent the next incident and respond smarter when it happens.
"Since October of 2023, we have not had a fatal fire."
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Measurable impact
ZERO
0 fatal fires for 2+ years
6,500+
Smoke detectors deployed
157 → 2
Hydrants out of service
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The Story
Background
Benton Harbor’s Department of Public Safety is a combined police + fire + code compliance agency—created after the city faced financial pressure and consolidated services. In a small, high-need community with a highly transient rental market, the department’s mission extends beyond emergency response into prevention and neighborhood quality-of-life.
Challenge
In just three years, Benton Harbor experienced 10 fire fatalities across 6 fires—nearly all tied to rental properties. The team’s review of incident patterns uncovered a consistent thread: electrical issues were a common denominator in all but one fatal fire.
Residents were living with everyday risk signals—like constant beeping smoke detectors—and persistent code and quality-of-life issues (illegal dumping, tall grass, neglected properties) that compounded hazards and community trust.
Solution
Benton Harbor built a connected community risk reduction program with First Due as the backbone:
- Fire Prevention / Inspections workflow
to manage rental inspections, fire inspections, and ordinance inspections.
- Code-based violations
aligned to the standards they enforce (e.g., International Property Maintenance Code, International Fire Code, state-level cannabis and liquor/tobacco rules).
- Work orders
to route issues like illegal dumping directly to Public Works—complete with photos and location context.
- Pre-incident planning + Mobile Responder
so crews and mutual aid agencies can access hydrants, keyholder info, door codes, and shutoffs—on scene, on any device.
- Hydrants module adoption
including cross-department use by the water department—so hydrant status updates and repairs become immediate (not a chain of emails and calls).
Results
By turning prevention data into day-to-day action and connecting it to response operations:
- Zero fatal fires since October 2023
- No significant fire injuries reported.
- 6,500–7,000 smoke detectors distributed
- 1,000+ CO detectors distributed
- Hydrant OOS dropped from ~157 to ~2
What’s Next
Benton Harbor continues expanding connected workflows across the platform—including a recent NERIS go-live—while maintaining the same guiding principle: make prevention and response data easy to capture, easy to share, and immediately useful for crews and partner agencies.
About
Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety
Quick facts
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Build prevention programs that scale
Modern inspection and code-enforcement workflows don’t have to live in a separate system. First Due’s Fire Prevention / Inspections module makes it easy to create agency-specific forms, capture violations in the field, and connect the results directly to pre-plans, work orders, and response data.
In Benton Harbor, an estimated ~85% of housing is rental properties—making consistent inspection workflows essential to reducing risk and improving quality of life.
In their own words:
- What makes Benton Harbor a “public safety” department?
- The agency combines police and fire, and in Benton Harbor’s case also includes code compliance. All members are firefighters; many are also police officers, and some focus primarily on code enforcement.
- What problem pushed you to build a stronger prevention program?
- The department saw 10 fire fatalities across 6 fires in three years—mostly in rental homes—and electrical issues were a recurring factor.
- Where did you start to reduce risk quickly?
- With a smoke detector program. The department worked through the Michigan State Fire Marshal’s office to distribute thousands of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
- How did First Due fit into the prevention strategy?
- First Due became the backbone for inspections—rental inspections, fire inspections, ordinance inspections, and specialized compliance inspections (including cannabis and alcohol/tobacco).
- How do you handle quality-of-life issues like dumping or tall grass?
- The team uses work orders inside the inspection workflow—documenting issues with photos and sending them directly to Public Works for action.
- How do you use pre-plans and response tools operationally?
- Commercial buildings are preplanned, and those details flow into the response app—door codes, keyholders, shutoffs, hydrant flows, and mapping—so responders see what they need immediately.
- Does sharing extend beyond your own department?
- Yes. Mutual aid agencies that also use First Due can share hydrants and preplans, improving consistency across the region.
- What changed with hydrant readiness?
- Hydrants became mapped, flow-tested, and color-coded. Out-of-service hydrants dropped from ~157 to ~2, and hydrant work orders go straight to the water department.
- How was the transition to NERIS?
- The department went live quickly—enabled within about an hour—with minimal disruption, supported by their account team.
- Was every module a fit?
- Not always. Community Connect wasn’t adopted by most residents due to privacy concerns, even though the tool itself was strong.
Ready to transform your department?
See how First Due can help your agency modernize operations, prevent incidents,and respond with confidence—just like Benton Harbor.
