DETROIT — Nationwide fire data has supported Detroit’s reputation among firehouses as the arson capital of the United States.
The Detroit News reported that Detroit has averaged 3,800 to 6,000 suspicious building fires annually for years. Of those, about 700 to 1,000 are investigated and confirmed as arson.
“It’s been that way for years. Every time you’d go to a seminar, you meet up with investigators nationwide and all they want to talk about is Detroit,” said Jon Bozich, who retired in 2001 as the chief of the city’s arson squad. “People used to say the arsons would only stop when the city runs out of fuel. It hasn’t happened yet.”
Detroit had 7.5 intentional or undetermined fires per 1,000 residents, compared with 1 to 2 per 1,000 for cities such as New York, Houston and Chicago, according to the report.
The highest rates in smaller cities near Detroit were 4 per 1,000 in Toledo, Ohio and 5.5 per 1,000 in Flint, Mich.