By Rocco Parascandola
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
A homeless man trying to burn insulation off copper wiring so he could sell the metal was charged yesterday with setting the spectacular fire that gutted a stretch of 19th century buildings along the Brooklyn waterfront, authorities said yesterday.
At the same time, the Brooklyn district attorney also announced that the controversial developer who owns the pricey real estate was hit with environmental charges because he failed to safeguard waterfront access to the property.
The arrest of the alleged arsonist, Leszek Kuczera, 59, capped a month-long probe triggered by the city’s biggest fire — not counting the terror attack of Sept. 11, 2001 — since a 1995 blaze at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn Heights. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said one other man has been identified in the arson and is being sought.
The May 2 fire wiped out the historic Greenpoint Terminal Market and sent skyward a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles, reminding many New Yorkers of the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attack. The blaze burned for several days and destroyed at least 10 buildings. Fourteen firefighters were injured, none seriously.
Lt. Dennis Briordy, of the NYPD’s Arson and Explosion Squad, said Kuczera used an accelerant to burn insulation off copper and cable wiring that he had collected.
Kuczera admitted to setting the fire, police said. He was charged with arson, burglary, reckless endangerment and petty larceny.
“The fire seemed to get away from him,” Briordy said. “The fire escaped him. It wasn’t his intent to burn the building down.”
Pressure from Greenpoint residents, fearful their enclave — so close to Manhattan, yet very much like a small town — is turning into a high-rise neighborhood, helped turn the attention to Joshua Guttman, owner of the Greenpoint Terminal Market.
Guttman owns dozens of other properties throughout the city, including some where fires have been intentionally set, according to investigative sources.
At least four of those fires were arsons, and Guttman has said through his lawyer he had nothing do with them.
“Mr. Guttman is thrilled that he’s been vindicated by the good work of the fire and police departments to find the person who did it,” said his lawyer, Israel Goldberg. “He’s saddened that it happened, but, thank God, there was no loss of life.”
Goldberg declined comment on the environmental charges, 434 counts of failure to maintain privately owned waterfront property. Each count represents a day since Jan. 21, 2005, when he was first cited for damaged and unsafe piers and bulkheads on his property.
A law enforcement source said the piers and bulkheads would have had no affect on the ability to access the market from land.