57 fires have been intentionally set across the Peninsula, 4 since late June. In a press conference held today, fire officials spoke up alongside Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, asking for help solving this crime...and help preventing it.
Many of the fires began on the outside porch, by the way of couches or chairs. Major Joe Riley asking residents to remove this furniture in the wake of the most recent arsons. "Anyone who has that now should remove it because we know that is being used for this purpose."
Norm Hanf of Norm's Pizza on Calhoun Street has been a landlord in downtown Charleston since 1988...and he has been taking a proactive approach to the fires for years."I pull everything off the porch. I stay downtown and I will go by my properties and make sure they don't have boxes or anything on the porch. No furniture, if you put it on there, bring it back in the house when you leave."
But not everyone is so diligent. Walking around downtown Charleston, several homes had chairs, towels, even indoor couches sitting right out in the open. One downtown resident suggested something needed to be done to force residents to clean up their porch."Owners need to be fined if there is combustible material on porches," says Jerry Lee Boyer.
One student tenant, CofC junior Stephen Brown, had furniture on his upstairs porch, but after speaking with us about the dangers, had this to say, "We'll definetly take the furniture off our porch, it's much better to be safe than sorry."
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