CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (WSIL) --Â The Cape Girardeau Fire Department says there's an uptick in suspicious vacant house fires. They're asking homeowners to take part in combating the issue.
The chief tells News 3 for the past two years, they've responded to 15 vacant structure fires.
He says these fires pose as safety hazards to the firefighters because most of the buildings are very dilapidated.
They're working with their development services department to make a list of all the vacant structures in town.
Those structures will then be added to their dispatch list, so they'll know what kind of building they're responding to.
He says his crew hasn't had any injuries but they're worried about how these fires will affect other homeowners.
"Just as recent as the other night last Friday night into Saturday morning, we had smoke blowing into one of the neighbor's houses that was very close to the structure that was on fire. So that causes some people to have breathing problems and things like that and the last thing we want is someone else's house to catch on fire," said chief Randy Morris.
Chief Morris says the community can help by encouraging property owners to secure vacant houses to help prevent vacant home fires from occurring and report any suspicious activity you see in the community to law enforcement.
He also says they are actively investigating the cause of the fires and are hoping to figure out the cause.
