Long Island firefighter charged with setting brush fires during driest period in NY for 160 years

A Long Island volunteer firefighter was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly confessing to having started one of the brush fires that swept through the town of Medford earlier in the day, according to a report.

Firefighters battled a half-dozen small brush fires — at least one of which was started by a Medford volunteer firefighter — for roughly six hours before the blazes were put out, according to NBC New York.

Police allege Jonathan Quiles, 20, purposely set a fire in a wooded area on Mount Vernon Avenue Tuesday afternoon, damaging a nearby car, according to the report.

Firefighters battled a half-dozen small brush fires — at least one of which was started by a Medford volunteer firefighter — for roughly six hours before the blazes were put out, according to NBC 4 New York. Medford Fire Department NY
A Long Island volunteer firefighter was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly confessing to having started one of the brush fires that set off through the town of Medford. Medford Fire Department NY
Firefighters seen at the area of the blaze. Medford Fire Department NY
The area where the fire was set. Medford Fire Department NY

Quiles, of Medford, is charged with arson and reckless endangerment.

The fires were difficult to extinguish in part because of the dry conditions plaguing the New York City metropolitan area.

The New York City area has not seen drier conditions since records began in 1865 — around the end of the Civil War, according to Fox Weather.

Quiles is expected to be arraigned in Central Islip on Wednesday.