The fire outside Gregory Branch's North Toledo home on Thursday night was bright enough to coax him and his family outside to see what the commotion was all about.
Two vacant houses -- which sat empty on and off for years -- were burning and crumbling as they watched.
Fire officials said the blazes -- at 816 and 812 Mulberry Street -- are the most recent arsons in a series that seems to plague the city nightly.
This year, through the first week of June, Toledo firefighters have responded to 83 arsons, and 31 "undetermined" fires. Of the total number of fires, 51 have been at vacant houses.
Click here for a photo gallery of arsons in Toledo
From January through July, 2011, crews responded to 111 arsons, said Toledo fire Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld. It's hard to say if any of the fires are related, and there's no real pattern to speak of -- just when investigators think they are getting close to an answer, fires stop and move elsewhere, or something that debunks an entire theory gets tossed into the mix.
"You have no idea why arson fires are out there," said Station 7 fire Capt. Tom Lewandowski.
A house could burn for any number of reasons -- insurance fraud, people who like to watch things burn, neighbors tired of the eyesore next door, revenge.
Unless a suspect is caught, it's almost always impossible to say why. And although arson is generally pretty easy to determine, it's far more difficult to prove who is responsible, said Lieutenant Hertzfeld.
On Thursday at 9:40 a.m., the crew at Station 7, in the central city at Franklin Avenue and West Bancroft Street and one of the city's busiest stations, responded to a fire at 4016 Sampson St. The fire is under investigation.
Captain Lewandowski said the heat at the fire was so intense that he and others had to strip from their fire gear to sit and catch their breath.
"It just wears you down," the captain said.
And the fires -- all part of a job the firefighters love -- are frustrating, especially feeling as though there's no end in sight.
"This is going to happen until one of us gets hurt or killed," said fire Lt. Matthew Brixey.
On top of simply responding to fires, there is no telling what to expect inside a structure.
Last year there were several instances where holes were intentionally cut into floors, and with people breaking into properties to steal pipes and wires, the structural integrity of a house is compromised, further complicating firefighters' ability to safely search a house for occupants.
The people who live near the vacant houses, ones that have burned or could be a next target, are frustrated too.
David Combs stopped at a pile of rubble that used to be 633 Oak St. in East Toledo on Thursday, looking from a slight distance to survey the remains.
"At one time," he said, "the east side was a nice place to live. Not anymore."
The Oak street property burned June 4.
"What they don't realize is they're putting other people's lives in danger," Mr. Combs said, adding that he's looking for a new house "in the country."
Tammy Pounders was sleeping inside her Second Street home June 5 when, through her open bedroom window, she smelled smoke and heard sirens.
Two houses down, 302 Second was on fire -- though she said she mostly saw smoke.
Still, it was enough to make her worry -- in the house between hers and the one on fire, live her son, daughter-in-law, and two young grandsons.
"I saw firefighters," one of the boys said through a screen door. "I had to get out of bed too early."
The fire on Second was reported at 5:48 a.m.
On Clark Street, Johnnie Mae Wilson, who has spent the past couple of years and thousands of dollars renovating her home, lives next to what used to be a vacant house.
Now, 306 Clark, which burned twice in May -- the 18th and 31st -- is a pile of debris.
"I don't understand why they keep doing this," Ms. Wilson said of the arsons.
On May 31, she was returning home from choir practice to see her street blocked off by officers trying to contain the blaze.
Her first thought was that her house was burning to the ground.
"I was so hysterical," she said. "I just freaked out."
She added that she was happy the burned house, which sat vacant for a year, was finally taken down.
Mr. Branch, on Mulberry, said he's glad the houses next to his came down too. He has three young children who play outside and always worried about children going inside and getting hurt.
Now, he said, he's just waiting for the city to clear away the charred remains.
Copyright 2012 - The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
