A Cape Breton municipal councillor wants to revive a task force to stop firebugs who seem to be targetting vacant buildings in the region.

Fire crews have responded to a suspicious blaze every other day for almost two weeks. The most recent was in Sydney Mines Wednesday morning.

"Firefighters are at risk and neighbours that live next door to these abandoned buildings are scared out of their wits and they want something done and I don't blame them," said the area's municipal councillor Clarence Prince.

Mary Fitzgerald, who lives a few homes away from a vacant house in Sydney Mines, suggested boarding up these places as a way to deter vandals.

"If a place is vacant, they should be made to board it up. If they are going to do repairs, well, repair it," Fitzgerald said.

Boarding up abandoned buildings was one of the suggestions of a task force on suspicious fires formed two years ago.

Prince said people were excited about finding ways to stop a rash of fires at the time, but fire, police and municipal officials on the task force met only once.

"It had been an excellent idea," he said.

Prince wants to breathe new life into the task force and come up with new ideas for stopping suspicious fires.