Winds and fire-department cuts push fires through dozens of Detroit homes
Wind-whipped flames swept through at least three Detroit neighborhoods, destroying dozens of homes, including many that were vacant, officials said. 
By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 6:49 AM DETROIT — Wind-whipped flames swept through at least three Detroit neighborhoods, destroying dozens of homes, including many that were vacant, officials said. A thick odor of smoke filled the air Wednesday morning after the roaring fires, fanned by winds of up to 50 mph, jumped from house to house Tuesday night. No injuries have been reported. “Between roughly 4 o’clock and about 8:30 we responded to about 85 fires,” and about 140 downed power lines, fire commissioner James Mack told WXYZ-TV Tuesday night. Detroit fire Capt. Steve Varnas told the Free Press that some fires may have been caused by dead tree limbs being blown onto power lines. At least one electric company launched an investigation into possible ties between the blazes and its lines. “It was like blankets of smoke everywhere and the next thing I know everybody’s house was in fire,” Louvenia Wallace, 31, a hair stylist and mother of three, told the Detroit Free Press Wednesday outside the duplex she rents. … “Throughout the whole city, the same thing is happening: Wires down everywhere,” Varnas said. Firefighters from neighboring Dearborn, Warren, Harper Woods and Grosse Pointe assisted the Detroit fire department, which has been hit by cutbacks in recent months, WXYZ-TV reported. …
Oh gee, did somebody say, dead trees?