Arson fires drive up costs and wreak havoc in neighborhoods

[A Ghost]

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8280457

Some say it is becoming a national epidemic in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Arson fires are driving up costs and wreaking havoc on neighborhoods.

The wood inside a house on Whitney Avenue in the Falls was still smoldering after the vacant structure was set on fire in the early morning hours, putting firefighters at great risk.

Niagara Falls Fire Chief William MacKay said, "These are the dangers we face when we go into these types of buildings. You can see the stairs are completely burned out leaving from the first floor up to the second floor."

It was one of two homes on Whitney torched with hours of each other. More than two hundred suspicious fires were set in the Falls last year, and residents say arson is wreaking havoc in their neighborhoods.

20th Street in the falls has been hit especially hard.

20th Street resident Joann Haick said, "I'm so scared that one of these days that somebody is not going to wake up and me being a cancer patient, it will affect me a lot more because I can't get out of the house as fast."

On the 500 block of 20th Street in the Falls, there have been eight incidents of arson in about a two year period. Two houses used to sit here. (shown on WIVB-TV)

Some of the exposed neighboring homes still show signs of radiant heat damage.

Nationally, the sub-prime mortgage crisis has aggravated the situation, abandoned homes serving as targets for arsonists.

Chief MacKay said, "it's a national epidemic. It has tragic consequences, and there's a tremendous hidden cost with it."

Taxpayers in Niagara Falls have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims for injuries and loss of equipment.

More insurance claims can mean higher rates, and now the Falls is dealing with out of town owners who are over insuring their properties.

Chief MacKay said, "We recently had a fire here in the city. The value of the home was assessed less than $20,000 dollars by the city assessor's office. The out of town owner had insured the property for in excess of $300,000 thousand dollars."

Neighborhoods can be reduced to a mere shadow of what they once were.

Postal carrier Denise Fitzgibbon said, "It's just so different from when I was younger. There were houses, neighborhood schools, everything, and now it's just space after space, empty spaces...

The cost of demolishing a burned out house can sometimes be twice the value of the structure.

The fire and police departments in Niagara Falls are asking citizens to help them solve cases of suspicious fires in their neighborhoods.

Story by Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, WIVB.

[A Ghost]

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8278926

Niagara Falls firefighters mark "National Arson Awareness Week"

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) - Firefighters in the cataract city are raising awareness about what they say is a growing problem.

Niagara Falls city firefighters are marking "National Arson Awareness Week."

Officials in the Falls say their fire department responded to more than 200 "suspicious fires" last year.

Fire authorities say they need the communities' help to stop and solve arson fires.

[A Ghost]

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/niagaracounty/story/342637.html

Abandoned buildings attract arsonists in Niagara Falls

Three deliberately set fires strike in a week

(Fire Chief William MacKay stands in front of a newly extinguished house fire in the 500 block of 24th Street. The cause of the blaze was arson.)

NIAGARA FALLS — The smell of smoke still hung in the air, and water had puddled into 24th Street on Thursday as the city fire chief interrupted a scheduled interview to survey the damage from the city’s latest fire.

The cause of the fire in the abandoned duplex in the 500 block of 24th Street was arson.

It was the third deliberately set fire reported in the city this week and a clear reminder that the topic of the interview — National Arson Awareness Week — is more than just a slogan in Niagara Falls.

Chief William MacKay told The Buffalo News that abandoned properties top the list of reasons why arson is such a problem in the city.

About 29 percent of properties in the city are vacant, he estimated.

Last year, city firefighters responded to 200 suspicious fires, many of them involving abandoned and derelict properties.

“Due to the declining population, abandoned buildings become targets of opportunity,” MacKay said.

Before the latest fire, he had stopped to talk to a reporter on 20th street, an area where arson destroyed three buildings and radiant heat damaged nine others last year. MacKay said that fire threatened to destroy the whole block.

MacKay got word about the fire on 24th Street during the interview.

The fire caused heavy damage to the abandoned house.

Next to this newly fire-damaged house was an apartment building that had been damaged by fire. A house once stood across the street, but it was destroyed by fire. Now, the property is a vacant lot.

Josh Deon, 10, lives on 24th Street. At his young age, he said he has seen “something like 19 fires.”

“Oh yes, it’s scary,” he said. “Kids break into the houses and then [the houses] catch on fire. They must hate this street.”

MacKay said such fires endanger both firefighters and those who live in affected neighborhoods. He mentioned Buffalo Firefighter Mark P. Reed, who nearly died battling an arson fire last June.

“There is no doubt that blight in the city can cause a kind of hopelessness, but the new Community Center at 18th and Linwood is an attempt to save that area before it becomes unsalvageable,” the fire chief said.

MacKay said young people breaking into abandoned homes, as well as those who go inside to use drugs, drink or sleep, are part of the problem.

He also said there was a variety of reasons people start fires.

“Some people like to see fires, others want to see what they can get away with, some want to play with matches. There is also arson for profit,” said MacKay.

“The owner is paying taxes on a property and wants to eliminate their tax liability,” he said. “You have people buying houses on the Internet from all over the world. They see that they can purchase a home for one-tenth of what it costs anywhere else, and they take a gamble. Then they find out what they have purchased is worthless.”

MacKay urged people to report suspicious activity.

“Like a man walking with a gas can,” he said. “It might be normal during the day, but no one is getting gas for their lawn-mower at 3 a. m.”

MacKay credited the work of Buildings Commissioner Guy Bax and the city’s Department of Inspections for being very aggressive in removing abandoned, fire-damaged structures so that firefighters won’t have to return to fight another fire in the same building.

But MacKay said these demolitions cost $20,000 to $40,000 each.

“They use community development money,” he said, “but we do try to recoup the costs from the property owner.”