OAK CLIFF FIRES

Jason Whitely reports

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NORTH OAK CLIFF – A dozen fires in three days have homeowners in the North Oak Cliff neighborhood of Winnetka Heights on edge this week.

Everything from garages to trash cans have been torched.

Distant sirens have become a regular sound.

"Well, we're in the third day now and I think hacked off is a pretty good word,” said Shanna Mizell, resident. “It's frustrating and it's tough when you have to go to work and you're worrying about what's going on at your house."

Residents said they have counted 12 fires in the area since Monday. All of them, neighbors believe, were intentionally set.

"I think we were the first, the first we knew about anyway,” said Kathleen West, homeowner. "We were just thankful the house didn't burn."

Fire gutted part of her garage Monday, damaged her '91 Buick LeSabre and almost destroyed historic headlines her sister, Kathryn, had saved from a quarter of a century's work at the Dallas Times Herald. That also included political cartoons she once drew for the Park Cities News.

"It kind of makes you sick to think you have to put up with this kind of stuff," West said.

While residents have their suspicions about who is behind the fires, so do investigators. Most of the fires start in trash cans.

While reporting started on the story, firefighters got another call, which was their fourth suspicious one of the day.

"It's really dry right now,” Mizell said. “The leaves are out. It's tender for a fire. Most of the houses in this neighborhood are over 100 years old. They're made of wood, very old wood, very dry wood."

That’s what is so worrisome.

Small fires, like the one in the West’s garage, could quickly spread to become bigger problems.

Neighbors are taking up surveillance positions hoping to help catch those responsible. When caught, the culprits could face anything from criminal mischief to arson charges.

E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com