Shown below are a few Detroit properties that have burned since the 2013 - 2014 winter. Photos from the Motor City Mapping survey are on the left, and photos on the right were taken with Blexting during the summer of 2014, updating survey imagery on the Motor City Mapping website.

Detroit suffers from around 5,000 structure fires per year, mostly arsons. Probably that’s not an incredibly reliable number, but if it’s at all in the ballpark, the photos collected below represent about 2 days worth of structure fires in Detroit.

What’s the common thread here? What’s the great insight? Certainly non-payment of property taxes is a theme; only four properties shown below were current on their taxes. The rest owe a combined $66,665 in unpaid property taxes.

At a minimum, we now have data on where these fire damaged structures are, and hopefully can direct resources to see them demolished.