Latest Series of Fires in Coatesville, Pa., Claims 15 Homes, Could this be a Gang Initiation Rite?

Photo: CNN, Coatesville Row Houses, Suspected Arson

I had never heard of Coatesville, Pa., until today and the news is heart-wrenching. According to media reports, the latest in a string of suspicious fires in this suburb, which is located 45 miles west of Philadelphia, engulfed a block of row houses, damaging 15 homes, leaving several dozen people homeless and prompting city officials to declare a state of emergency. This is terrible and to think that there is strong suspicion that this was arson. This comes on the heels of at least 30 arson cases that have been reported since the beginning of 2008, with about half of them in the last three weeks. Police said the blazes may be part of a gang initiation, but there was no clear information who was committing the crimes or why.

The latest fire was reported late Saturday at the rear of one house and quickly spread to adjacent homes in the Chester County community. The emergency declaration has given the city the necessary powers to deal with the situation without worrying about the budget, such as boarding up the buildings, assigning police to protect them and helping the families involved.

The criminals are bare-faced to do this again. The fire came despite increased police patrols and investigative help from county, state and federal agencies. Three people were arrested in December, but there is still a low-life thug out there still starting fires. The residents are scared, and rightly so. You don't know where the next fire will start.

Fifteen homes were damaged and some may have to be demolished. The damage was estimated at $1.2 million, bringing the total fire damage since last summer to $3 million. Authorities have urged residents to remove flammable materials from porches and to keep porch lights on at night or install lights that are turned on by motion detectors.

I hope they catch these thugs sooner rather than later. There are way too many criminals roaming the streets and wreaking havoc on innocent people. This is a predominantly black suburb and one has to wonder if the opposite was true, wouldn't law enforcement have redoubled its effort back in 2008 when there was evidence of a trend? This didn't make the mainstream media in a major way until this latest rash of fires. Wow, had this been the Pennsylvania Main Line, which includes a cluster of affluent communities such as Wynnewood, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr and Narbeth, they may have very well caught these criminals, including the copycat scumbags.