Smoky View On the Cause of Suspicious Neighborhood Fires

       A panel of New York City Fire Department officials spoke to the City Council's fire and criminal justice committee following a spate of suspicious fires in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. The meeting was one of a series of preliminary budget hearings for the fiscal 2007 city budget.

    The meeting follows a deadly arson fire at 1033 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights (pictured) that took the lives of Sherri Williams, 26, Assita Coulibaly, 36, and Coulibaly’s children, Mohammed, 1, and Miriam, 3 on February 24th.

    Panel members, which included Peter Hayden, chief of the department, and Frank Cruthers, First Deputy Fire Commissioner, said suspicious fires have increased in frequency this winter in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, but did not give details on their response.

    There were suspicious fires in the past three months at 1084, 1198, 1440 and 1154 Pacific Street, 530 and 600 St. Marks Avenue, 461 and 658 Park Place, 683 Dean Street, and 784 Prospect Place.

    Published in Courier-Life Publications. (Sorry - the link for this article is currently unavailable.)