David Coates/ The Detroit News A firefighter battles a blaze at two homes on Benson during Devil's Night 1987. The annual arson hit city coffers hard.

3-day arson spree hurt city’s image

Yearly ‘Devil’s Night’ fires fueled Detroit’s decline

The Detroit News Two neighbors use a garden hose during Halloween of 1990 to douse a garage fire on Algonquin.

By Cameron McWhirter / The Detroit News

    DETROIT — Devil’s Night, the peculiar three-day period of arson in Detroit that has come to precede Halloween, more than any other problem became an emblem of Detroit’s decline to the rest of America.

    Some arsonists burned for fun, some for profit. But whatever their motives, the arsonists who struck each October tarnished the city’s battered reputation, further drained city coffers and drove even more businesses and people out of Detroit.

    The phenomenon exploded in 1983 and peaked in 1984, with 810 fires during the three-day period. Mayor Coleman A. Young launched massive anti-arson campaigns, including patrols by volunteers.

    The annual arson spree persisted throughout the 1980s, although diminishing. In 1985, the city suffered 479 fires during the Devil’s Night period. After that year, the numbers dropped, according to the city, reaching a low of 156 fires during Devil’s Night 1991.

    But those official statistics were questioned by the firefighters union and others. The true numbers were much higher, they argued.

    National TV networks would broadcast lurid images of the fires each year. Suburbanites would come down to watch the flames.

    “Some people like the Fourth of July,” Craig Bulman of Warren told The News in 1988 as he videotaped a fire. “I like Devil’s Night.”

    The fires caused the city to dramatically increase its funding for demolitions. In 1989, Young received $13.1 million from the City Council for emergency demolitions because the city’s $15-million demolition budget was almost gone.

    Young tried various tactics to restrain the arson and improve the city’s national image. The city imposed a teen curfew and launched a “My Heart is with Detroit” campaign. Young also launched a campaign to wipe out the use of the term “Devil’s Night” and replace it with “Halloween Arson.” He had little success.

    During Mayor Dennis Archer’s first year in office in 1994, the number of Devil’s Night arson fires spiked to 354. Since then, the number has hovered in the 150 range, partly reflecting Archer’s highly publicized “Angels’ Night” patrols by volunteers.