Arson is a raging epidemic in Detroit, and continues to eat away at the neighborhoods, Joel Kurth of the Detroit News writes.
He reports:
Even amid a historic demolition blitz, buildings burn faster than Detroit can raze them. Last year, the city had 3,839 suspicious fires and demolished 3,500 buildings, according to city records analyzed by The Detroit News.
Burned homes scar neighborhoods for years: Two-thirds of those that caught fire from 2010-13 are still standing, records show.
Kurth also writes:
The Detroit News researched arson for more than three months and found that it remains a huge obstacle to renewal efforts following bankruptcy. The News reviewed records of more than 9,000 suspicious fires from 2010 to mid-2013 and found that arson has decimated the northeast, southwest and far west sides of Detroit.
Few neighborhoods were untouched by arson and the entire city bears its costs. Homeowner insurance in Detroit is at least double the state average because of arson, while the city last year spent $3.5 million to demolish at least 247 homes that have caught fire since 2010. Its human toll is unmeasurable: Last year, 17 people died from intentionally set fires, and half of all suspicious fires were in occupied homes.
The report comes at the same time Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker has launched a series on problems in the Detroit Fire Department, including arsons.
