New York, Fire | featured news

A religious statue stands in the fire-scorched landscape of Breezy Point after a Nor'easter snow, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 in New York. The beachfront neighborhood was devastated during Superstorm Sandy when a fire pushed by the raging winds destroyed many homes.

Firefighters will spend the next two weeks setting homes ablaze on a small island in New York Harbor for one purpose: Saving lives. Eighteen abandoned townhouses on New York City's Governor's Island, formerly housing for members of the Coast Guard, have been turned into a setting for roaring fires in experiments aimed to develop new strategies firefighters can use to save lives.

A woman burned to death in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building Saturday after a man ambushed her, sprayed her with liquid and set her afire with a Molotov cocktail, police said. The unidentified man was waiting for the woman, who was in her 60s, when the elevator doors opened to her floor of the Prospect Heights building. The man sprayed her with an accelerant and set her on fire, New York City police spokesman Paul Browne said.

A 15-year-old boy poured gasoline throughout his home and set it ablaze Wednesday, killing his adoptive father and two brothers, police said. Michael Pilato was charged with second-degree murder and arson, hours after the early morning fire at his two-story home in Webster, a Rochester suburb.