No Arson Fires This Weekend; Probe Continues

For the first time in three weeks, there were no fires on Hazelwood Drive this past weekend, Deputy Chief Jon Stratton said Sunday.

That's the good news. The bad is police and fire investigators have yet to make an arrest in the string of .

Officials plan to canvass the neighborhood again on Monday, Stratton said, reinterviewing some residents and continuing the search for clues to who might have set the blazes, which destroyed seven cars, badly damaged one house and severely damaged another, all in the 16700 block of Hazelwood.

Neighbors, in the meantime, are attempting to protect themselves. A fledgling neighborhood watch group met for the first time on Saturday, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, and many residents reportedly stayed up late -- some outside -- on Saturday night to ensure they would not be caught off guard if the alleged arsonist or arsonists decided to strike again.

Neighbors are particularly tense not only because of the brazen nature of the attacks, some of which involved going into open garages and at least one of which occurred during the day, but because the town homes in which they live have a floor plan in which the bedrooms are located over the garages.

That said, investigators believe the fires have been more a crime of opportunity than a thought-out crime spree. In each case, the suspects hit vehicles that had been left unlocked and garage doors left open. Materials inside the vehicles were used to ignite the flames, some of which smoldered for some time before catching, officials have said.