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Cairo is burning

By Brent Stewart
The Southern

CAIRO - Chris Coleman stood Wednesday looking at what little was left of his house at 2207 Martin Luther King Dr. in Cairo.

What's left of the abandoned house he bought in December to turn into rental property is a chimney, the foundation and burnt debris.

And because an inspector had yet to do a walk-through of the property, it was not insured.

"It's a total loss," Coleman said. "Not only did I lose the initial money as the investment, I also lost the property. Plus, now I have to put out more money for clean-up. At this point, I have a liability I have to mow."

The fire at Coleman's house is under investigation as a possible case of arson.

So far in 2011, there have been eight fires in Cairo, the most recent of which was Monday morning. A fire began at 414 George St. and quickly spread next door. Both houses were occupied, however only the residents of 416 George St. were home at the time, and they escaped unharmed.

Although it is still under investigation, the George Street is not considered to be suspicious.

However, at least four of the other fires this year are believe to be arson.

Cairo Fire Chief John Meyer said there's no evidence that the fires are connected.

"We do have a lot of vacant houses here, a lot of dilapidated buildings here. I don't know if it's thrill seekers, the thrill of the fire," Meyer said. "We've looked at several angles of this, trying to figure out what the reasoning is. Are there crimes being committed and they're covering them up? (For example,) stripping out the copper and all the valuables out and then burning the building up.

"The thing about arson - it's easy to prove it was arson, but it's hard to prove who did it," Meyer said. "That's what our biggest problem is right now.

Outside the remains of a burned house at 525 21st St., Oscar and George Houston respond with indifference when asked if they were concerned about the number of fires.

"We're used to it," said Oscar.

"It's like every week you wonder if there's a fire and where it's going to be," said George.

However, the more the brothers discussed the issue, the more concerned they became. The house on 21st Street is next door to their mother's. Oscar noted that most of the residences that had burned were unoccupied at the time, but wondered what would happen if the next fire was the home of an elderly person who couldn't get to safety.

"What gets me is there have been a lot of fires, and they haven't caught anyone," said George.

David Bandera, arson investigator for the Illinois State Fire Marshal's office, explained the difficulty with the investigations.

"What we're up against is no one comes forward with any information," Bandera said. "The citizens are not cooperating with local authorities."

Bandera said arson cases are extremely difficult to prosecute. To make an arrest, authorities practically need a witness willing to testify. Or, they basically need a confession.

Out of Bandera's 60 investigations last year - half of which were fires of suspicious origin - he only had nine arrests, which he said was a high number for that type of crime.

Bandera said everyone is frustrated.