A plea on arson: Stop

Each year, the city typically has 400 structure fires, half deliberately set.

YOUNGSTOWN — Patience: The ability to tolerate delay — as in waiting for vacant eyesores to be demolished instead of setting them ablaze.

“Yeah, I sympathize with those who have to live next to vacant houses, but they have to have patience,” Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said Thursday. “They need to look at the risk factors — firefighters get hurt, vagrants, structures on either side.”

O’Neill said some arsons are a form of vigilante justice when structures on the demolition list are burned by those who want to clean up their neighborhood and don’t want to wait for houses to be torn down.

Sometimes, kids torch vacant houses “for kicks,” he said. Other causes include squatters who light fires to keep warm, those involved in drug activity, and people who take copper pipes and wire, he said.

O’Neill said a study of property ownership once done by Capt. Alvin Ware, commander of the arson bureau, didn’t produce any links to arsons at the uninhabited houses.

Many of the structures were sold in large block tax lien sales and the owners live out of town, the chief said.

Ware said there have been 130 arsons at abandoned structures through Aug. 31. Only six of the fires were at vacant commercial buildings, he said.

Recent fires

Four fires on the East Side that occurred between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and 3:40 a.m. Thursday are likely linked but Ware said he had no suspects or leads.

At 1438 Oak St., crews found the vacant structure engulfed in flames and allowed it to burn down at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Reports show the fire was intentionally set and damage set at $17,000, a total loss.

About 20 minutes later, firefighters at the Oak Street blaze saw a structure fire in the distance, and a crew was sent to 1575 Clay St. The house also was engulfed. The cause was listed as undetermined and damage set at $5,000, a total loss.

At 1327 Charlotte Ave., firefighters found a fire had been deliberately set in the kitchen area of the vacant house at 12:44 a.m. Thursday. Damage was set at $2,000 and demolition of the structure requested.

Another intentional fire at 395 Euclid Ave. was reported at 3:40 a.m. Thursday. The vacant house was allowed to burn down, with damage set at $15,000, a total loss.

“That’s too many fires at once,” O’Neill said. “With two we’re pretty well tapped out, then if there’s a third we really struggle.”

Ware posted reward signs at the site of the four fires.

Rewards

The Ohio Blue Ribbon Arson Committee offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of suspected arsonists. The committee is a coalition of insurance companies.

At the Charlotte Avenue fire, Ware said, “What scares me [is] there are two occupied houses, one beside and one behind this house.”

Ware said talking to neighbors doesn’t usually produce leads because most are asleep when the fires start.

O’Neill said it’s not desirable to put out vacant house fires unless they’re close to occupied structures. He said the danger is great to firefighters, who run the risk of falls, electrocution, gas leaks and so forth.

The chief said since the 1980s the city has consistently recorded about 400 structure and 150 to 180 vehicle fires each year. Half of those in each category have been deliberately set, he added.

In the 1980s, after the steels mills closed, the city experienced arson-for-hire of occupied structures that had been foreclosed on by banks, he said. Today, for-profit arsons are “way, way down,” O’Neill said.