NEW YORK (AP) — Environmental officials are saying the massive brush fire that destroyed two homes and a commercial building on eastern Long Island was intentionally set.
Newsday (http://bit.ly/InEhbh ) reports Wednesday that the state Department of Environmental Conservation sent a preliminary report last week to the Suffolk County police arson squad listing the cause as "incendiary," meaning arson.
Andrew Jacob, the assistant director of New York State Forest Rangers for the DEC, told Newsday that "someone willfully set the forest on fire in some kind of action."
However, the police department says the cause of the April 9 fire has yet to be determined.
More than 100 fire agencies responded to the blaze in the Ridge and Manorville area. One firefighter was hospitalized with minor burns. Two other firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.
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A house is left burned by a brush fire near Manorville, N.Y., on April 10, 2012. The fire destroyed three homes and a commercial building and burned about 1,000 acres on eastern Long Island. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Firefighters wet the charred ground where a brush fire burned near Manorville, N.Y., on April 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
