'Suspicious' Fires Rip Through East Side Neighborhood
DETROIT (WWJ) - Investigators in Detroit are trying to figure out who set fire to three homes on the city's east side.
Officials say a vacant home caught fire early Tuesday morning on Kirby Street near Moran Street. About 300 yards east of that, near Mount Elliot, another two vacant homes were burning.
Battalion Chief John Slavik told WWJ's Mike Campbell it's not a coincidence the three homes caught fire at the same time.
"We had three false alarms earlier in the evening, so it seems like somebody, right in this area, they were planning on lighting it up. So, they waited until the middle of the night and they got it going throughout and it ended up three dwellings, all at the same time. All vacant. Not a coincidence at all," he said.
A nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said he really wasn't surprised by the fires.
"We got a call at 4 o'clock in the morning that said the house down the street was burning, and I opened the door to look and this one was burning, both of them was burning at the same time," he said.
The man, a lifelong Detroiter, said he thinks someone is targeting his neighborhood, burning down the vacant houses one by one.
No one was injured in the fires. An investigation into a cause of the fires remains ongoing, although officials suspect arson.