Detroit Braces For Annual Halloween Arson Spree; 40K+ Recently-Emptied Foreclosed Homes Could Present Tempting Targets

In Detroit, Michigan, ClaimsJournal.com reports:

• For the five years that the wood bungalow next door has been empty, Darlene Banks has kept an eye on it as Halloween approaches. She wasn't expecting anyone to burn it weeks sooner. But the dilapidated house on Detroit's east side went up in flames one weekend in early October, along with 10 other houses on six adjacent streets -- an apparent challenge to the city's annual mobilization to prevent arsons over the Halloween period that has become infamous as Devils' Night.

• The stakes are even higher this year, as the city already devastated by the exodus of jobs and unemployment of around 27 percent moves toward the Halloween weekend. Along with tens of thousands of long-vacant homes and buildings, the more than 40,000 others recently emptied by the foreclosure crisis could present tempting targets. [...] Known as "Mischief'' and "Cabbage'' nights in other parts of the country, Devils' Night in Detroit once brought pranks such as egging houses. But the tricks took a sinister turn in the late 1970s.

For more, see Detroit Braces for Halloween Arson Spree.

In a related story, see The Detroit News: Insurers declare war on arsons in Detroit ($1M pledged to fight rising number of torched homes).