Motor City Muckraker's Steve Neavling was out and about blogging live about the fires on Angels' Night Thursday night and Friday morning in Detroit.
He writes:
We are blogging details of every fire during Angels’ Night tonight to gauge Detroit’s response and the severity of the arsons. The idea is to bring you a transparent glimpse of the most notorious night of arsons in the country and the impact of the understaffed fire department.
Here's a sampling:
10/31
02:51
Detroit's east side is getting hammered again by arsonists. Reported house fire at Liberal & Brock, which is a very rundown area.
02:45
Detroit firefighters are attacking a house fire at 5425 McDouggall, not far from some other east side fires.
02:42
Detroit arson investigators just arrested a suspect accused of starting at least one fire tonight.
02:09
Our map now represents all fires on Dec. 30. Very interesting patterns. Refresh the page to get the current map.
01:49
Firefighter response times are lagging by three to four minutes. That's critical because a house fire typically doubles in size every four minutes.
01:41
Fires are flaring up again, with two houses and one garage reported on fire in separate areas within nine minutes of each other.
01:29
Chief 1 is requesting relief for two fatigued companies. Waiting to see if dispatch has the rigs available.
01:06
Photographer at fire scene on east side: Detroit cop held out handcuffs, said, "We got a problem?" And then forced to him to leave.
01:01
Police are threatening to arrest photographers at the Elmwood fire.
00:53
Scene of two-house blaze at E. Warren and Mt. Elliot. Photo by Matt Sukkar.
00:44
House fire reported at Carpenter and Goodard. Companies responding: E56, C8, S5, E39, L7
00:40
A rare 20 minutes passes without a house fire. Good thing because the fire department is dangerously low on rigs.
00:27
Police and arson investigators are removing photographers and onlookers from the scene at 3140 E. Kirby, where two houses are on fire.
00:26
Engine 9 breaks down at the scene of a house fire at E. Warren & Mt. Elliot. Fire is getting close to spreading to occupied house. Chief calls for extra help.
