UPDATED: Hours before layoffs & fire station closings, now 8 fires set in Flint, Michigan injuring two firefighters. Battalion chief says someone is making a statement & calls fires 'demonic'.

Watch press conference on layoffs

Twenty-three firefighters are scheduled to lose their jobs today in Flint, Michigan. Two fire stations are expected to close this week. Yesterday evening, there were five fires in vacant homes over a four-hour period (some news sites indicate four fires) that left two firefighters injured.  Overnight there were at least three more fires.

Here’s the latest from WJRT-TV at 6:45 AM which is reporting seven fires in eight hours (click here to watch video of a live shot as one of the fires burns in the background):

Flint firefighters have been called to nine fire calls, one of them false, since Wednesday night. At least two firefighters have been injured.

The injured firefighters are expected to recover.

Here is a partial list of the fires: The 400 block of West 12th Street, Grand Traverse and 9th and Fenton and 12th, two on Jane Street, another on Grand Traverse.  

Within six hours, crews responded to four fires, all in vacant structures. Investigators think they may have been intentionally set in response to firefighter layoffs due to go into effect today.

Here is coverage from late last night. According to WNEM-TV, “Battalion Chief Theresa Root said it appears the person who set the fires was trying to make a statement. Widespread layoffs take effect Thursday in the fire department as well as on the police force.” (Click here for live interview with Chief Root.)

Here is more with Chief Root from MLive.com:

“Someone is playing a very demonic game,” she said. “They’re either going to maim us or kill us, and it very much concerns me.”

WEYI-TV has additional comments with Chief Root:

Fire Battalion Chief Theresa Root says all the fires seem to have been set intentionally. All the fires were two story vacant home with fires on both floors. Root says it also seems very suspicious since the fires are happening the day before firefighter layoffs.

“I think they’re trying to make a point and I think they’re going about it all the wrong ways. They need to make a point to elected officials regarding layoffs by communicating their ideas. They’re using an illegal and dangerous act to try and make a point. They need to act intellectually and professionally with options and compromise.”

Flint Journal reporter Laura Angus attended yesterday’s press conference with Mayor Dayne Walling. Here are excerpts:

With the city unable to reach cost-cutting agreements with police and fire unions, planned layoffs will go into effect barring a last-minute deal.

Along with the staffing cuts, the city will also shutter two of its five fire stations Thursday — Station 3 on the city’s north side and Station 8 on the south side.

With 65 city firefighters left on the job, some outcounty fire chiefs have expressed concerns that the city will need added help from outside departments if Flint is overwhelmed with fire calls.

The city is developing a plan so it can call in off-duty fire personnel and equipment before relying on the countywide mutual aid fire agreement, said Walling.

Firefighter union president Raul Garcia accusing Walling of union busting on Wednesday and said he is planning to organize his own recall effort against the mayor.

“He doesn’t care about the city, that’s it,” Garcia said.

Walling said the city will continue to be safe and praised the work of the city’s police and firefighters, calling them “the best in the business.”

“This is not easy but we can no longer afford to live outside our means,” he said.

The red pin to the north is Station 3 and the one to the south is Station 8. Both are expected to close this week. Click the image for more details on the map prepared by the Flint Journal.