DETROIT – With Halloween weekend coming to an end, Detroit has seen a marked change in the number of arsons and specific fires that once plagued the city. There were a total of 52 fires over the weekend, which is a 50 percent drop from 2010.
Mayor Dave Bing’s office made the announcement earlier this afternoon that there were 34 fires Sunday night, as volunteers and law enforcement patrolled the streets for the annual Angels’ Night campaign. The number is sharply down from the 58 fires that were set on Oct. 30, 2010.
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“We’ve been prepping, literally, for months,” said Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee prior to going out on patrols on Saturday night. “We’re not taking anything for granted. Our police department is at full deployment. Unless you’re on restricted days or on an authorized vacation, all leave days are canceled for everybody in the police department.”
Over the weekend, about 500 vehicles driven by city workers, law enforcement, and mayoral appointees were joined by an unspecified number of city and suburban residents as they hit the streets to keep would-be arsonists at bay. Patrols paid special attention to the numerous vacant homes and buildings that were prime targets for arsonists and vandals.
Last year, there were 169 fires during the three-day Halloween period – which is Oct. 29-31. That number was up from the 119 fires during in 2009. The mayhem reached its peak in 1984 when over 800 fires were set in Detroit.
“We couldn’t do this without the residents,” Godbee said. “We tend to take a lot of credit as public officials, but at this time in the city, you look at groups like Detroit 300, you look at Made Men, Brothers on Patrol, Green Acres Community Group, Grandmont-Rosedale, East English Village, people in Detroit are starting to get energized about their role in public safety and it’s making a difference.”
On Saturday night, the first night of Angel’s Night patrols, there when there were just 18 fires, which was a big drop off from the 47 on Oct. 29, 2010. Bing’s office will release the final fire totals, including any that occur this evening, on Tuesday afternoon.
