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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on November 1, 2009 at 1:02pm

It seems to me that we have a LOT of fires in our neighborhood! I know on our street we had 2 fires in the SAME house (house and garage) in a matter of months. Neighbors were fairly certain that a young person living in the residence started the garage fire as he was seen going back and forth to the garage several times in the hour prior to the fire - information was given to fire investigators but we never heard anything more about it and the family moved a while later - leaving behind a damaged house that they tried to sell and is now in the hands of HUD.
With the amount of fires we've had it seems that we either have a significant problem with arson AND/OR a significant issue with fire safety- EITHER way, it seems that the City has been very quiet about this and i have not seen or heard of any type of public safety campaign. There was a woman at the last street watch meeting who said that her house was set on fire shortly after she evicted some people who were living there. Another person at the street watch meeting spoke about hearing that people were 'targeting' empty homes.
In the meantime, I will continue to always shovel out the fire hydrant that is in my front yard when the snow starts to fly - i sure hope it's not ever needed!

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on November 10, 2009 at 10:49pm

There was a fire at 122 Warwick early Saturday morning that may have been arson. Fortunately, there was relatively minor damage to the house, however, this fire was across the street from the house directly behind my house on Rugby.

We really need to impress upon City Hall that the arson problem needs to be priority. We need to have more houses being rehabbed, and fewer houses deteriorating or burning down. However, the city administration seems to view the loss of neighborhood houses as a good thing.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on November 11, 2009 at 12:08am

I read about that in the newspaper. Just wonder who is setting these fires! Obviously there must be an investigation going on ... wish we knew more about it. Maybe or probably they are not even connected. Wish someone from the city would tell us what's up! Never seen anything like this before. City response for abandoned houses seems to be to tear them down, since few buyers. And that may not be a bad thing, but when a fire like on Trafalgar affects neighbors on both sides, there is a serious problem. Who knows what the answer is, but I sure would like someone from the city to address it.

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on January 13, 2010 at 9:29am

I think that it was the same place and it's not far from Normandy where a house had THREE fires!! There was an article in the D&C a few weeks ago about city arsons and specific neighborhoods that were being targeted..... a fire official connected it to gang activity. The 19th ward was mentioned! Interestingly, in the last Thurston Road meeting I attended (October), a woman in the audience asked about fires and was told by an RPD person that there was no evidence of fires being gang/retaliation related. So, we seem to have mixed opinions about WHO is starting fires and WHY.
In the meantime, I can count at least 10+ known fires in the 19th ward in the past 12 or so months (3 on Trafalgar, 3 on Normandy, 1 on GPB, 1 on Sawyer, 2 on Sherwood, 1 or 2 on Penhurst and others that I don't specifically remember details about).
I've been so alerted re: fires that last week I drove over to Inglewood as I saw smoke coming from behind a neighbors garage. Thankfully, it was just some BBQ!! BUT, if neighbors were more aware of the issue with fires they just might pay more attention and/or call 911 sooner!
So, here we sit waiting for the City to SAY SOMETHING or DO SOMETHING about this and I'll continue to call 911 when I see or hear something suspicious.

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