Ellet fights fire with fire
Akron Beacon Journal
Sept. 9, 2005
Jackie Isaly is no stranger to hard times.
The strain from years of lost loved ones, car accidents and charred memories makes her hand shake as she raises a cigarette to her lips day after day. It is a habit, she says, she can’t quite kick because of stress.
As she sits on the steps of her home in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood and fingers the gold cross hanging around her neck, the 57-year-old’s eyes fill with tears at the mention of her latest source of heartbreak: the scorched remains of the place she has called home for 28 years.
“There’s nothing left,” she says. “And I didn’t have much.”
Isaly is a victim of one of the seven arsons in Ellet over the summer, blazes that have caused more than $200,000 in damage since the first fire was set June 26.
When a fire was set in Isaly’s Stevenson Avenue garage on July 23, the flames spread to her home, sending almost everything she owned up in smoke.
Now her mind is plagued by the same question that is in the minds of her neighbors: Who is setting these fires?
“I maybe see them every day,” she said, her eyes scanning the street. “I don’t know. I would feel a lot better if I knew who did this.”
The houses in Ellet differ little from those found elsewhere in Akron.
The hum of air conditioners provides quiet background music to the sounds of wind chimes ringing, faded American flags flapping in the wind and children riding bikes.
The mostly one- and two-story homes sit unobtrusively in the warm summer sun, but a closer look at the neighborhood shows that things are not as peaceful as residents would like.
Some homes show the wounds from their fight with fire: black streaks bruise the exterior, siding is blistered from the heat and boards bandage broken windows and walls. The smell of burnt plastic still lingers.
“I’m scared, you know,” said Ruth Moore, 54, whose home is just down the street from Isaly’s.
Moore said she believes the person or people responsible for the fires are also responsible for her missing lawn sculpture, which disappeared a few weeks ago. “We keep a light on every night,” she said.
Her husband, Arnold, 86, rocked quietly in a swing in the front yard. He believes minors are responsible for the fires.
“I hope they catch them,” he said.
Fire investigators say the arsons have all been opportunistic. They say the fires seem to be set on a whim, using materials found in the yards. Most were started in piles of garbage and tires. Many were easy to contain and caused only minor damage.
Isaly’s fire
In Isaly’s case, what started as a small garage fire escalated into a blaze that turned most of her memories to ash.
Around 11 p.m. on July 23, as Isaly was getting ready for bed, she heard a frantic knock at the front door. As she went to answer it, she noticed orange flames lapping at the side of the house.
When she tried to leave the house through the kitchen door, the heat from the handle stopped her. She fled through the front and watched in horror from her neighbor’s driveway as her home was engulfed by flames.
The next time she stepped into her house, parts of the roof and her bedroom were gone and water and smoke had destroyed most of her possessions.
“I had no idea it would cause this much (damage),” she said. “I had no idea. I never dreamed of the bedroom being the way it was. It was devastating.”
Isaly’s dog, Buddy, and a friend staying on her couch escaped unharmed, but Isaly said she is still nursing emotional wounds from the fire. A serious car accident and resulting spinal surgery in 2003 still weigh heavily on her, as do the deaths of her parents in 1986 and 1995 and a few scrapes with domestic violence.
Now Isaly, who works part time as a courier, says she smokes a pack of cigarettes a day just to help calm her nerves.
“I don’t know many people who’ve been through as much as me,” she said. “I know people have had their problems, but I’ve had my share. Sometimes it just feels like the devil is just on my back, chasing me.”
Crime of opportunity
This time, Isaly isn’t alone in her troubles. Six other fires in the neighborhood have damaged yards, garages and vacant homes, and the Akron police and fire departments are trying to ensure that there isn’t an eighth fire.
“Since the Ellet situation, we have been more visible in that area,” said Akron Fire Capt. Al Bragg.
Bragg said the fires, which have all occurred at night and are all confined to the Ellet area, appear to be related, but officials won’t be sure until the person or persons responsible are apprehended.
Bragg said the “Ellet situation” is the most serious case of repetitive arson he’s seen since the days of David Klar of Massillon, the notorious “west side arsonist” who pleaded guilty in 1986 to 16 counts of aggravated arson, 32 counts of breaking and entering and two counts of arson relating to multiple fires. Klar was charged with causing 46 fires between 1983 and 1986, including one that seriously injured a Massillon firefighter. Klar later confessed that he set the fires because of anger with a city councilwoman.
While the fires in Ellet are fewer and haven’t caused any injuries, Bragg said every fire could become fatal.
“I think about the person who’s doing it,” Bragg said. “Do they realize the damage they’re doing?”
A $5,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of the arsonist.
Kim Meyers, a Cora Avenue resident, has witnessed firsthand the destruction of the fires, two of which she helped extinguish.
“(I’m) very, very angry that someone could cause this much damage to someone without any remorse or anything,” Meyers said.
Her son, 11-year-old Dakoda Parsell, helped extinguish a garage fire on Priscilla Avenue on Aug. 10. Meyers said her son, whose bedroom is at the back of the house, now sleeps on the couch every night out of fear.
Dakoda recently pulled his mother out of bed at 3 a.m. when their dogs began barking. Meyers said she swung open her front door to find three deer meandering down the street.
“It was a relief,” she said. “It wasn’t a fire and it wasn’t smoke.”
Low-crime area
Ellet has the fewest block-watch groups of any neighborhood in Akron, community Police Officer Clay Cozart said.
“Ellet has always been known as a low-crime area,” he said. “I’ve been on the department 10 years and I can’t remember a crime spree such as this occurring in Ellet. Many times we see areas with low crime have the least amount of block-watch groups.”
But because of the arsons, Cozart said, neighbors are beginning to band together to keep their neighborhood safe.
“If any good can come of this, it will maybe be more citizens involved with block-watch groups,” he said.
Meyers, who is organizing block watches for the area, said residents are turning their anger into action.
“It’s kind of breaking everyone up, but then again, it’s kind of pulling everyone together,” she said. A few weeks ago, Meyers organized a block-watch group at the Ellet Community Church of God, where almost 100 residents met to discuss ways to make their community safe.
“People are more alert and mad,” Meyers said. “They’re unhappy that this has happened because it’s been a nice neighborhood and there have never been any problems.”
Even Jackie Isaly, whose home is now little more than a memory, said she believes Ellet is a safe neighborhood and she plans to rebuild her home.
Isaly said she now relies on police and firefighters to keep her safe, the hospitality of her neighbors to keep her sane and her faith in God to keep her strong.
“I want to be strong,” she said. “I do depend on God for everything, and I know with his strength, I’ll make it through this.”
