Detroit sees record low of Devil's Night fires

This year, Detroit's Angels' Night patrols have brought down the city's traditional Halloween week arsons to a record low, The Detroit News reports. 

According to officials, only 52 arsons were reported this year — down from 97 in 2014, and the lowest since the grisly tradition of lighting houses on fire on Devil's Night took off in the 1980s. The record high was 801 fires in 1984.

The effort is credited to more than 4,000 volunteers and 400 police officers who patrolled the streets between Oct. 29-31. Additionally, as Motor City Muckraker points out, Mayor Mike Duggan's administration has so far demolished 7,000 abandoned houses and 150 commercial buildings, reducing potential arson targets. 

Arson is still a problem in Detroit the rest of the year, though. As pointed out in a previous Metro Times article on arson, on any given day in Detroit there are 10 to 12 "suspicious" or "intentional" fires.