Abandoned house in Cairo destroyed in fire

CAIRO, Ill. -- For Cairo firefighters, it's becoming a broken record.

On Thursday afternoon, crews battled another blaze in the 500 block of 21st Street, where flames ate through what remained of a vacant home that had sustained fire damage on at least two separate occasions last fall.

"They tried to finish it off," said Cairo Fire Department Capt. Brandon Manker. "This is the third time they tried to burn it, and they completely finished it this time."

Firefighters were called to the blaze at 525 21st Street at about 3:30 p.m. They remained at the scene for hours.

In October, the property had been damaged in a fire that destroyed a home next door, which was occupied at the time, Manker said. The residences were separated by about three feet.

An official with the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office, the investigating agency, said the fire is suspicious, but it appears to be incendiary.

"There were no utilities going into that house, no natural gas, no electricity. There's only one way the fire could have started," said Louis Pukelis, spokesman for the fire marshal's office. He said he couldn't confirm reports that investigators have a person of interest in the case.

The motive remains a question, Pukelis said.

"We know that there was no insurance on the house, so it's not like it was torched for the insurance. So there is no motive from that respect," the spokesman said.

Manker said lumber and wire had been stripped from the property.

Arson has been a repeating theme in the impoverished Southern Illinois city at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

The Illinois Fire Marshal's Office investigated nearly 50 arsons in Cairo between Sept. 8 2007 and Oct. 28, according to documents obtained by the Southeast Missourian. Records show fire marshals investigated at least seven fires of undermined nature over the period. Manker said the fire department has been called to 15 to 20 arson fires over the past year.

"Arson is one of the hardest crimes to prove," Cairo police chief Gary Hankins told the Southeast Missourian following an arson earlier this month. "A lot of physical evidence gets burned up, and there are not a lot of eyewitnesses."

Manker said it's difficult to explain why so much of Cairo has burned over the past few years, but he has some theories.

"Some of it's retaliation, domestic, just some pissed off people," he said. "Some of it, I think, is just for the joy of it. Nothing indicates a pattern or a profile, because it has been so sporadic. There's just no answer to it."

Whatever the reason, the fire captain said the timing of the fires couldn't be worse.

"I sure as hell would find better times of the year for it to be done," Manker said. "They're setting these fire in the hottest part of the summer or they wait until it's 10 degrees outside."

Cairo firefighters have been injured battling some of the fires. Manker warns that even minor injuries can ramp up charges in arson fires, to aggravated arson or even attempted murder, each carrying lengthy prison sentences.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

525 21st Street, Cairo, Ill.