Crews Battle Multiple Fires On Detroit's East Side: 'Did You Hear? The Whole City Is Burning'
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit fire crews were stretched across several scenes on the city's east side, battling a number of suspected arson fires that reminded some of the notorious "Devil's Night" fires of the past.
The fires took off early Thursday morning in a neighborhood along Mt. Elliot Street between East Grand Boulevard and Warren Avenue.
Fire Chief Richard Wright was leading a crew at Mt. Elliot and Kirby, across from Trinity Cemetery, where a vacant house was nearly all but burned to the ground.
"We've got a house gone, we've got a garage and we've got about six other fires going on around us," Wright told WWJ's Mike Campbell.
At the scene of another burning home on McDougall and Frederick streets, one fire official asked our reporter, "Did you hear? The whole city is burning."
A short distance away, near yet another burning home at Frederick and Elmwood streets, area resident Tony Stahlworth said the fires are the worst he's seen in a while.
"Not since I was younger and on Devil's Night," he said, referencing the night before Halloween in the mid-80s, when Detroit would see hundreds of arson fires. "This is worse than Devil's Night."
Another house was on fire at Moran and Frederick, and a building was on fire at McDougall and Farnsworth.
The fires were put out relatively quickly after they started. Officials say all the houses appear to be vacant and no injuries were reported.
Authorities believe the fires were started intentionally and perhaps by the same person or group of people, although the causes remain under investigation.
