Posted on November 10, 2006

10 Days After Devil’s Night, Saginaw Still Burning

AP, Nov. 9, 2006

Dozens of vacant homes have been set ablaze since a pre-Halloween arson spree last week, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

Late Wednesday and early Thursday, four fires erupted on the same block, causing more than $70,000 in damage. No one was injured.

“Why would anybody keep doing this?” Battalion Chief Donald Coleman asked.

Firefighters have battled more than 50 fires since the October 30 spree in which 16 houses, most of them vacant, burned. Since then, homes, cars and garbage have been set ablaze.

Widespread arson fires on the night before Halloween, dubbed Devil’s Night, started years ago in Detroit. Saginaw, a city of about 60,000 residents, later began seeing copycat arsons.

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