Arsonist Hits Memphis Neighborhood Twice In Two Days

(Memphis) Homeowners along Driver street near Richmond are having to get used to the images of charred homes in their South Memphis neighborhood.
        
This is the same street where not one, but two fires have kept firefighters busy in less than 24 hours and it’s rattled the nerves of people such as Devario Taylor, “The arson is very out of the ordinary. We’re not used to that. Man, they need to go ahead and catch them because when you set somebody’s house on fire it can catch the person’s house next door on fire and there are a lot of elderly people around here.”
            
About 30 emergency response personnel battled a fire that engulfed a vacant home at 1330 Driver early Thursday morning, but just one day earlier firefighters fought another vacant house fire just down the road at 1381 Driver.

Sandra Lewis works at the nearby Olive Grocery and Market. She wants whoever is responsible for the fires locked up, “It’s real quiet, it’s real quiet. I hope they don’t do it again. I hope they don’t come back.”
               
Memphis Fire Investigators say these fires was set on purpose.

This year in Memphis there have been 164 arson fires and 46 people have been arrested for those crimes.

Lt. Wayne Cooke is with the Memphis Fire Department, “Arson related crimes are destructive and devastating not only to ones property, but it could result in the loss of life, as well.”
     
Investigators hope to catch this latest arsonist. But some Driver Street neighbors say if they don’t they’ll take matters into their own hands.

Taylor said, “We are going to catch them and if the police don’t catch them we are going to catch them, yeah.”

Investigators say if you can help get this arsonist off the streets, you should call Crime Stoppers at 901.528.CASH.