Under Mayor Dave Bing, Austin had come to Detroit in May 2011 on the difficult mission to bring change to the DFD.

[2] By the end of March 2014, Commissioner Jackson resigned due to a life-threatening neural disease.

During his tenure, significant achievements included restructuring the department, resulting in record-low EMS response times, acquiring updated equipment and apparatus, cross-training EMS personnel for firefighting roles, and implementing aggressive hiring initiatives.

Simms' executive leadership team comprised 2nd Deputy Commissioners Reginald Jenkins, Derek Holman, and Robert Stokes, alongside Director Anthony Watts.

As of January 2011, in an effort to reduce costs, the city of Detroit was considering privatizing the Fire Department's EMS Division.

Additionally, 200 firefighters and officers were to be demoted and around 150 laid off initially, with more than 100 to be re-hired as funds were to become available.

[7] At the end of January 2013, the entire fleet of aerial ladder trucks was found lacking certification for routine operations.

By 2014, the established practice of using improvised tools like soda pop cans, doorbells, door hinges or pipes to alert firefighters of incoming alarm faxes made national news.

Mutual aid arrangements with fire departments in the two enclaves, the cities of Highland Park and Hamtramck, were formalized in October 2014.

Following 2012's reduction, the standard assignment to a structure fire was again increased to 3 Engines, 1 Truck, 1 Squad and 1 Chief.

For the year of 2023, Detroit Fire Department responds daily to provide exemplary services to the citizen and visitors of Detroit with a fleet consisting of 27 engines, 13 ladder trucks including 2 platforms, 6 squads, 42 ambulances, 2 Haz Mat vehicles, and an airport rescue engine.

A new burn tower and flashover container was purchased to simulate live fire situations.

Ensuring within a 10 year span that every residence in Detroit has working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Prior to bankruptcy, the city of Detroit had to cope with a large number of fires.

A large number of these fires are believed to be "incendiary" (or arson)[nb 1], far above the national average of about 7.8%.

The availability of Emergency Medical Services units is often compromised due to the number of calls in a city which has a lot of violence, citizens calling 911 for non-emergencies, as well as the breaking down of the Emergency Medical Services rigs due to age, mileage, and lack of proper maintenance.

Thanks to Mayor Bing's collaboration with the business community, Roger Penske sponsored 23 new ambulances for the department, which were put into service in the summer of 2013.