DETROIT -- Increased vigilance by fire officials and volunteers appears to have kept the number of arsons low in Detroit on the night before Halloween.

Mayoral spokesman Daniel Cherrin says 47 of the 65 fires reported Thursday and early Friday are suspicious. The total reported is consistent with last year.

He said two people, and elderly woman and her son, died in what is believed to be an accidental house fire on Hubbel Street.

Police said the woman was having trouble with her furnace and called her son, who came over to help. When the house caught fire, the man made it out of the house, but ran back in to save his mother, said police.

An estimated 147 fires were reported during the three-day Halloween period in 2007.

At its peak in 1984, 810 fires were reported in Detroit from Oct. 29 to 31, fueled by, among other things, Devil's Night's growing notoriety and the city's large number of abandoned buildings.

Cherrin said about 3,500 volunteers will patrol Friday night.

A curfew for minors will remain in effect until 6 a.m. Saturday. Any minors found unsupervised in a public place will be detained by Detroit police and will have to pay a fine.

WJRT-TV reports at least 11 fires in Flint late Thursday and early Friday.

The Saginaw News reports at least 18 blazes in that city. Saginaw fire officials say two firefighters were injured and tell the newspaper that most of the fires are arsons.