Post by district5 on Apr 6, 2010 14:24:15 GMT -5
Local news
Cincinnati.Com » Local news
Last Updated: 2:58 pm | Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Vacant-building fires on rise
By Sharon Coolidge • scoolidge@enquirer.com • April 6, 2010
The Cincinnati Fire Department is urging citizens to report unusual activity in abandoned buildings, a request prompted by 124 fires in vacant properties in the last two years.
"Such situations are very dangerous and pose a risk to individuals such as children playing there, homeless individuals living there, firefighters that respond to emergencies occurring there and others," District Chief Fredrick Prather said.
Damage from the 124 fires is estimated as costing nearly $13 million, and in one case a firefighter was injured. In the past two years, the number of abandoned-building blazes has risen 42 percent over the previous two-year period.
Over-the-Rhine, South Fairmount, Price Hill, Walnut Hills and Avondale account for most such fires, which typically occur between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.
"Citizens in those communities should be especially mindful," Prather said.
Cincinnati is not alone in the rise of vacant-building fires. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that from 2003-06, more than 50 people died, and 141 civilians and 4,500 firefighters were injured in vacant-building fires. Each year they account for $642 million in direct property damage, according to the association.
The problem was on fire officials' radar in 2008, when a rash of fires and an increase in fire calls at vacant properties led area police chiefs to discuss the issue. Cincinnati added a vacant-building checkbox on reports to track such fires.
Hamilton County Fire Chief's Association President B.J. Jetter, who is Sycamore Township's Fire Department chief, said every community is concerned about fires in vacant homes.
"It's economy-driven," Jetter said. "More homes than ever are vacant because of foreclosures."
Fire departments have found mortgage companies and banks - many located out of town - aren't securing the properties, Jetter said.
Those properties become magnets for vandalism and theft and are seen as shelter in the winter.
"You get homeless people who take up residence, or kids, and they set fires either to warm or play around," Covington Fire Chief Mark Young said.
The city of Cincinnati is working to prevent fires through inspections aimed at making sure owners keep vacant buildings secure and up to fire code, as well as through the city's hazard abatement program, which demolishes vacant and condemned buildings when owners fail to bring the property into compliance.
Citizens calling about unusual activity on vacant property will help the fire department, Prather said.
"Such notifications may save lives and property," he said.