Cash-strapped, arson-prone Detroit could let fires in vacant buildings and homes burn themselves out to save the city Fire Department money.

The fiery notion from Detroit’s Executive Fire Commissioner Donald Austin surfaced as the documentary “Burn,” chronicling a year of Motor City firefighters’ camaraderie in the face of declining budgets and increasing fire calls, made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

“We are in no way looking to 'let the city' burn, this is about saving lives and money,” Austin said, according to a report Tuesday by NBC station WDIV in Detroit. “My department is strapped, the budget is strapped, and it’s time to look at a new way of doing things.”

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is looking to trim $250 million and cut more than 2,500 jobs from the city’s 2012-13 budget. The cuts would lower the fire department budget below this fiscal year's $183 million.

Austin's proposal would allow vacant buildings to burn if they're more than 50 percent ablaze — as long as they're not a risk to inhabited structures and the weather is favorable.

Max Ortiz / The Detroit News via AP file

An arson investigator photographs a fire at a Detroit building complex at Sycamore and Grand River on March, 28 2012.

Bing’s office is not taking any position on Austin’s idea until he makes a formal proposal of his annual budget request, the mayor’s spokeswoman, Naomi Patton, told msnbc.com.

Detroit Fire Fighters Association President Daniel McNamara said he opposes Austin's idea of letting vacant homes burn, unless they're on a predetermined demolition list, WDIV reported.

“This is a long overdue idea, really,” Jo Robins Davis, a Detroit-area lawyer specializing in fire insurance claims, told msnbc.com. As long as they can keep the burns controlled, the idea would work for her, she said.

“They’re going to be torn down anyway,” she said of the vacant structures.

Austin has other ideas to save money, WDIV reported: Ask the U.S. Navy's construction division, the Seabees, to level 10,000 vacant and dilapidated homes; or create a demolition unit in the Fire Department to use heavy equipment to level the remnants of newly burned buildings.

Detroit has 80,000 abandoned structures, "Burn" filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez say.

Austin said 40 to 60 percent of the fires in Detroit are in vacant structures. Last year alone, the Fire Department fielded 30,000 fire calls. The city of 714,000 sees 30 structure fires a day. In contrast, Los Angeles, a city of nearly 4 million, faces just 11 structure fires a day.

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To illuminate the obstacles that Detroit firefighters face, filmmakers Putnam and Sanchez documented a year in the life of the men and women tasked with saving their beloved city. The film features video shot by the firefighters with cameras attached to their helmets.

 “On our first two nights filming, we went to 21 structure fires with one engine company,” recalled Putnam, who said that he and Sanchez were inspired by the 2008 death of Detroit firefighter Walter Harris.

Burned on purpose
Arson in Detroit rose in 2010 to 1,082 incidents, up from 636 the year earlier, according to FBI crime statistics. Insurance companies paid $237.8 million for damage caused by arsons or suspicious blazes in 2010, the Detroit News reported.

Why is arson so frequent?

“I think Detroit's a place where people feel disenfranchised and there aren't a lot of ways to express themselves,” Putnam told NBC News. The filmmaker broke the reasons down into categories: arson for profit, homeowners who are upside down on their mortgages, and arson for revenge. Other times it’s just arson for kicks. “Like one of the firefighters says, ‘a gallon of gasoline is cheaper than a movie ticket,’” Putnam said.

Scrappers, who strip vacant buildings of valuable materials, are also a problem. After stripping away all metal piping, they can leave an exposed gas line to catch fire, which is what happened April 10, when fire destroyed two abandoned buildings and damaged the occupied family home of Tiffanie Alston, 31.  

She grabbed her children — 9, 10 and 11 years old — and then headed to the basement to help her 61-year-old father.

"People go in there and scrap all the time, and it was just a matter of time till it got set on fire," she told The Detroit News.

In the 1980s, Detroit was known for Devil’s Night fires, which peaked in 1984 with more than 800 fires over Halloween. In 1985, an Angel’s Night campaign began to counter the arsons. Firefighters responded to only 94 calls Oct. 29-31, 2011, according to the mayor’s office.

'Katrina without the hurricane'
Wide swaths of Detroit consist of scattered occupied homes surrounded by boarded-up structures, burned-out buildings and weed-covered vacant lots, WDIV reported.

The city’s population, which peaked when the post-World War II auto industry boomed in the 1950s at nearly 2 million people, has dwindled. Now Detroit’s population has plummeted to 714,000, the Census reported last year.

As one firefighter in the film put it, “This has been Katrina without the hurricane.”

Now Bing’s planned budget cuts could make firefighters' jobs even tougher. With starting salaries at approximately $30,000 a year, most firefighters already have second jobs.

From their extensive time with the Fire Department, Putnam and Sanchez saw firsthand the real impact the city’s budget problems had on the firefighters. Many of their boots were secured with duct tape, some were missing gloves, and they were still cutting holes in roofs with axes, the filmmakers said.

“I think we think that's all being taken care of, and it's not being taken care of,” said Sanchez. “We need to be there for them because they're always there for us.”

Funding for the film came from corporate sponsors like General Motors and an outpouring of donations from supporters who saw preview clips online. To do their part, Putnam and Sanchez  are donating portion of any proceeds from the film to the Leary Firefighters Foundation to help supply firefighters with equipment.

For Putnam, the story of this one city’s firefighters is symbolic of what the rest of the country’s fire departments may soon be facing, as budget are slashed in almost every state. And Putnam and Sanchez want people to remember that, as heroic as their work may be, firefighters are human after all.

“People tend to think of firefighters as being indestructible,” Putnam said. “They're not indestructible. If you don't give them the equipment they need and you send them into situations they shouldn't be going into, they can get hurt and they can get killed. And it's easy to forget that.”

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Updated at 12:29 p.m. ET:

LOS ANGELES - A State Department official says a German man was identified as a suspect in the Los Angeles arsons because his mother was the subject of a provisional arrest request by Germany, The Associated Press reported.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, the official told AP on Tuesday that authorities learned about Harry Burkhart while working on his mother's case and recognized her 24-year-old son in security video of the arson suspect.

Los Angeles authorities were alerted and Burkhart was arrested Monday.

Another federal law enforcement said Burkhart was present when his mother, Dorothee, was arrested Dec. 28 by U.S. marshals and Los Angeles police. That official spoke anonymously because the official was not authorized to discuss the case.

Earlier:

LOS ANGELES - A man who was arrested in connection with a string of arson fires across the Los Angeles area reportedly told police officers, "I hate America," when they put him in handcuffs on Monday.

According to a witness the suspect, 24-year-old Harry Burkhart from Germany, uttered the words as he was pulled over and arrested early Monday, L.A. Weekly reported.

Police made the arrest after a tip from federal officials who thought they recognized the grainy figure caught on a surveillance video near where a car fire was reported.

Burkhart was booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling. Since the arrest, firefighters have not responded to any other suspicious fires.

"Our long four-day nightmare is over," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

• Story: Suspect booked in connection with LA arsons

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported that police searched a home on West Sunset Boulevard Monday evening. According to witnesses, the search took place in a second-floor apartment above the Le Figaro Hairstyling hair salon, the Times said.

"I cut his hair just a week and a half ago," said Shlomo Elady, a stylist at the salon who told the Times Burkhart had been customer for more than a year. "I'm in shock. He's my client. I never saw any sign of trouble."

Sam Mircovich / Reuters

Los Angeles County Reserve Deputy Sheriff Shervin Lalezary (right), who spotted the now detained man driving a van, smiles as he is introduced by Sheriff Lee Baca (left) during a news conference in Los Angeles Monday.

Police declined to reveal any motive for more than 50 fires that have occurred since Friday in Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, causing about $3 million in damage.

However, the 24-year-old, who told officers he's from Frankfurt, may have been upset about his mother's legal woes.

When asked at a news conference about reports that an immigration problem with Burhkart's mother may have been a factor, authorities declined to comment.

Galina Illarionova, who lives in the same apartment complex as the suspect, told reporters through a Russian translator that an agitated Burkhart visited her Sunday and said that his mother was having some kind of legal problems.

He told her his mother was in trouble with the authorities and wanted Illarionova to attend a legal hearing with him, but he later said he didn't need her help.

'Most dangerous arsonist'
"We are very confident in this arrest, but we have a long way to go," said Police Chief Charlie Beck, who mentioned receiving information from federal authorities who recognized Burkhart from the video. They believed he had been involved in removal hearings in immigration court, but they didn't specify how he was involved.

Burkhart, who is being held without bail, was described by Sheriff Lee Baca as the "most dangerous arsonist in Los Angeles County that I can recall."

Authorities didn't know how long he's been in the United States and said he isn't cooperating with them.

The onslaught of intentionally set fires left residents on edge over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city.

Hundreds of investigators, police officers and firefighters raced to deal with the blazes. Police conducted extra patrols all weekend, and the noise of helicopters and sirens persisted virtually nonstop in Hollywood.

The blazes forced many apartment dwellers from their homes. But there were no serious injuries — one firefighter was hurt in a fall from a ladder, and another person suffered smoke inhalation.

Most of the fires began in cars, and authorities have not said how they were started.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Update at 8:02 p.m. ET: Los Angeles officials say they'll pay at least $35,000 in rewards for information leading to the conviction of the arsonist or arsonists. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky says the county is offering a $25,000 reward and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is adding another $10,000.

Original post: LOS ANGELES -- Police and fire officials on Friday were scrambling to investigate a series of 19 arson fires that ripped through parked cars in Hollywood and West Hollywood overnight and spread to some nearby homes -- including one once occupied by Doors frontman Jim Morrison.

There were 13 vehicle fires within the borders of the city of Los Angeles, and another six in West Hollywood areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“We’ve called in additional investigative teams,” said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Jaime Moore. “The county has brought in L.A. County Sheriff arson bomb teams, and the LAPD is on tactical alert.”

We will "be preparing for what may be coming tonight," said Los Angeles County fire Battalion Chief Tom Sullivan.

Fire officials couldn't say whether the rash of fires was the work of a copycat. There was a series of other arson fires early Thursday, also in Hollywood. Two people have been arrested and remain in custody for those blazes, officials said.

On Friday, they scoured video from the parking garages where some of the cars were located in hopes of finding an image of whoever set the fires.

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP

An investigator works the scene where fire caused damage to a two-story apartment at 1156 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, section of Los Angeles on Friday.

"This is an arsonist working," said LA City Fire Deputy Chief Mario D. Rueda. "These are very dangerous fires." So far, the only injury was to a firefighter injured in a fall, but Rueda warned that "these fires can lead to loss of life and injury."

West Hollywood Mayor John Duran heatedly spoke directly to the person or persons suspected of starting the fires.

“What were you thinking?” he said. “This is the most dense part of Los Angeles. If you’re trying to say something, this is not the way to say it.”

Investigators hoped to make enough progress Friday to prevent additional arson attacks tonight and over the holiday weekend.

The four-hour onslaught started shortly after midnight and sent firefighters scrambling to douse the flames. In nearly every case, the fire started in a parked car. Dozens of people were rousted from their homes, and power was disrupted in several neighborhoods.

One of the homes was in Laurel Canyon, where Morrison and his girlfriend once lived, neighbors said. The winding road was the inspiration for the Doors' hit "Love Street," and the 1922 house was listed for nearly $1.2 million earlier this year, according to real estate website Zillow.com.

Sandy Gendel, who owns a nearby restaurant, said he heard explosions from what he later determined were likely car tires. He saw flames 30 feet high coming from the deck of the former Morrison house and a gutted Mazda Miata.

"It was just like a towering inferno," Gendel said.

Mike Meadows / AP

A Los Angeles Fire Department engine arrives at a fire in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles early Friday,

Jeff Dorman, who lives in the neighborhood, said he and his wife were awakened by noise in the street.

As he and his neighbors watched the firefight, he said they worried about embers floating toward their houses because they are so close together. They also were concerned about a firebug being loose in their neighborhood.

"One spark could have been a huge problem," Dorman said. "The fire department did a fantastic job."

Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents much of the Hollywood area where blazes were set, urged residents to call 911 or a fire hotline at 213-893-9800 if they have information about the fires, or if they see someone who appears to be preparing to set new fires.

This article includes reporting from Sharon Bernstein, Samantha Tata and Ashley Gordon at NBCLosAngeles.com and The Associated Press.