Woman Sets Times Square Hotel Fires

Aug. 29, 2018
Two people were injured after a woman lit a room ablaze in a Times Square hotel and then torched trash cans on two other floors Tuesday.

Aug. 29 -- A woman lit a room ablaze in a Times Square hotel, then torched trash cans on two other floors Tuesday, police said.

The firebug made her escape amid the chaos at the Staybridge Suites, as firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze that left two people hurt, officials said.

The ponytailed woman, who was dressed in all black, used an open flame, possibly a lighter, to set a room on fire at about 11:40 a.m. in the W. 40th St. hotel, cops said.

She then lit two hallway garbage cans ablaze. Firefighters battled the separate blazes on the third, eighth and 18th floors of the 32-story hotel for more than an hour.

Police describe the woman as black, about 5-foot-7 and 180 pounds. She ran east on W. 40th St., cops said.

Cops are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

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