Woman Sets Times Square Hotel Fires
By John Annese
Source New York Daily News
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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