Bomb-Making Materials Found In Astoria Home After Fire: NYPD

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A man was arrested after a fire at his Astoria home Tuesday led law enforcement to discover a trove of chemicals that could be used to make explosives, police officials said.

Marak Squires, 37, has been charged with reckless endangerment after FDNY fire marshals found possible bomb-making materials, books and manuals in his home. Investigators found no assembled explosive devices.

Squires was brought to a Manhattan hospital for evaluation, police said.

There was no indication that he was building explosives or that such a plot was underway, NBC4 New York reported.

"The concern would be the individual chemicals that were found and what they could combine to make," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told reporters Tuesday night.

Authorities discovered the possible bomb-making supplies after the home, at 24-07 19th St., caught on fire about 2 p.m., a police spokesperson said.

After firefighters extinguished the flames, the building's landlord asked them to take a look inside some of the man's boxes, according to NBC4.

The tip eventually prompted the fire marshals to call in NYPD investigators, who urged locals to avoid Astoria Park and surrounding streets.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI continue to investigate.