The Evansville Fire Department is offering tips to prevent your property from being the target of an arsonist. WNIN’s John Gibson has details:
This is National Arson Awareness Week and officials say the city of Evansville recorded more than $1.2 million dollars in property damage due to intentional fires last year.
Motives for arson include concealing crime, curiosity, excitement, fraud, and vandalism.
Evansville Fire Department Division Chief Mike Larson tells WNIN it remains a difficult crime to prosecute, but an increase in surveillance cameras is helping:
"A bigger portion of front porches have those cameras on them and people don't realize it and they do the crime right in front of it and we gotcha."
Larson recommends exterior lighting, including motion-activated lighting.
He also urges you to keep combustibles and flammable plants at least five feet from your home, remove excess vegetation and piles of leaves, and keep doors and windows locked.
Homeowners are urged to secure abandoned and vacant houses, remove abandoned vehicles, and install burglar and fire alarms.