A few years ago there were a series of car and moped fires in northern Columbia Heights between 14th and 16th and Spring Road and about Otis Place. They seemed to have been intentionally set but were originally reported to be “mechanical” rather than arson, but later on were investigated by the police.
It had been some time since I’ve heard of any other vehicle fires, but a reader emailed me today abour a car fire on Perry Place between 14th and 16th that happened the night of January 1, pictured above. Let’s hope this isn’t the start of another rash of vehicle fires.
I was trying to find out if anyone had reported on a car fire that occurred last night, January 1, on Perry Place between 14th and 16th…
[…]
Anyway. It was pretty bananas. Someone on the street saw the person who lit the car on fire throw something into the front of the vehicle. It happened right in front of my house and my car was parked behind the car that was on fire.
[…]
Someone must have [called the police], our street was shut down until about 10:40 pm….maybe 40 minutes total, although I’m not sure. The fire department was there along with MPD. But then the officer from MPD said that they were handing it over to their arson investigator.
I recommended that she call MPD and the local fire station to see what’s going on with the investigation. I have not seen anything about it on any of the MPD or Fire Department Twitter accounts or listserves.
And as I always recommend when someone talks about a crime, please call 911, even if you already hear police or fire sirens going to the scene or if it has been some time. Even if they can’t catch the person or are already on scene, your report can help them find out what happened, and also makes sure that it gets reported, and more reporting helps the police and firefighters target their responses better. You can also report anonymously. “Minding your own business” helps no one, and potentially can even hurt.
If you’re looking for info on crimes, MPD’s listserves are the first place I look, and also they often have contact info for officers in charge of those areas.
