PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria saw 13 fire related incidents during the fire department’s Keep the Wreath Red Campaign in December 2019.
Division Chief Stan Taylor said five of the fires were working fires.
“A working fire is an extensive fire capable of doing considerable damage,” Taylor said.
This year, the estimated property damage from the fires is $487,450. That total is split between commercial and residential fires.
“The big one is the $350,000 commercial. That was the Getz (Getz Power Washing) business, their garage that burned,” Taylor said.
Residential fire damage totaled to $137,450.
In previous years, there were only 12 fire related incidents during the Keep the Wreath Red campaign in 2018. However, there was still a significant decrease in fires from 2017.
“We had 23 fires. Of those 23, 10 were arson fires,” Taylor said. “That’s a lot. Twenty three fires in 31 days. That’s a significant amount.”
Peoria saw one arson related incident during 2019’s Keep the Wreath Red campaign.
Anyone who has information related to arsons is encouraged to contact the Peoria Fire Department’s hotline, (309) 494-8776.
