A Long Island volunteer firefighter was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly confessing to having started one of the brush fires that swept through the town of Medford earlier in the day.
It took firefighters six hours to put out a half-dozen small brush fires in Medford on Tuesday — and at least one of the blazes was allegedly started by Medford volunteer firefighter Jonathan Quiles, authorities said.
Quiles, 20, allegedly set cotton balls on fire near Maple Street and kicked them under a 2004 Chevrolet sedan parked nearby around 3:23 p.m. — causing damage to the car, according to a criminal complaint.
Firefighters battled a half-dozen small brush fires for roughly six hours before the blazes were put out, according to NBC 4 New York. Medford Fire Department NY
The area where the fire was set. Medford Fire Department NYAbout 15 minutes later, Quiles torched another cotton ball, sparking a brush fire in a wooded area on Mount Vernon Avenue near several homes, the complaint said.
In written statements, the accused arsonist admitted to lighting the blazes.
The fire burned through an area of Twelve Pines Park Tuesday afternoon, with firefighters returning Wednesday morning to put out hot spots. The blaze was one of several brush fires in Suffolk County this week.
Quiles was charged with arson and reckless endangerment.
The fires were difficult to extinguish in part because of the dry conditions plaguing the New York City metropolitan area.
Quiles was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly confessing to having started one of the brush fires in the town of Medford. Newsday
Firefighters at the area of the blaze. Medford Fire Department NYThe New York City area has not seen drier conditions since records began in 1865 — around the end of the Civil War, according to Fox Weather.
“The Medford Fire District performs arson background checks before admitting members and there was no knowledge to suspect that this individual may have had any inclination of intentionally setting fires,” the department said in a statement shared on Facebook.
Quiles was arraigned in Central Islip on Wednesday and ordered to stay away from the two locations.
He was placed on supervised release because the charges were non-bail eligible.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney slammed the state’s lax bail reform laws after a judge cut Quiles loose.
“Unfortunately, under New York’s ‘Bail Reform,’ intentionally setting fires in the midst of dangerously dry conditions and a statewide burn ban are not bail eligible offenses, meaning prosecutors cannot even ask for bail on these charges,” he said in a statement.
“Our New York lawmakers need to get their act together and pass common sense fixes to a broken system.”
