DETROIT – Hundreds of volunteers are patrolling Detroit streets and neighborhoods as the annual observation of the three-day Angels' Night period begins.
Residents are asked to help keep eyes on vacant and abandoned houses, garages and other buildings beginning Monday through Wednesday night.
An emergency curfew is in place requiring anyone age 17 and younger to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The city promotes volunteer neighborhood patrols each Halloween, dubbing the effort Angels' Night, to prevent a repeat of the so-called Devil's Night in 1984, when more than 800 fires were started in Detroit during the Halloween period.
The number of fires reported on Halloween and the two days prior last year totaled 94, compared with 169 during the three-day period in 2010.