Tenant Set 6-Alarm Hamilton Heights Fire, Police Say

HAMILTON HEIGHTS, NY — A man is facing arson charges in connection to a six-alarm fire that destroyed an apartment building in the Hamilton Heights section of Harlem and displaced more than 100 people, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Jelani Parker, 34, was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of assault, one count of second-degree arson and reckless endangerment, an NYPD spokeswoman said. Parker was a tenant of 565 West 144th Street when he set a fire on Nov. 17 that eventually spread throughout the building's cockloft and destroyed large sections of the structure's roof and top floor, the spokeswoman said.

Video surveillance showed Parker enter the building with a red gas canister and entered the sixth-story apartment he lived in with his mother and father, according to prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office. Parker was later seen leaving the smoke-filled apartment and hurrying down a flight of stairs to exit the building, prosecutors said.

"The alleged actions of Jelani Parker have displaced many from their homes while others recover from injuries due to his dastardly acts. Even greater damage, destruction and death could have resulted for countless innocent people but for the valiant efforts of the FDNY and other first responders," Special Agent Ashan M. Benedict of the district attorney's Arson Response Task Force said in a statement.

Parker fled to North Carolina and then eventually to California, where he was arrested, prosecutors said.

The fire broke out at about 3:15 p.m. and wasn't placed under control until 8:52 a.m. the next day, according to fire officials. The massive fire triggered a 6-alarm response, meaning more than 200 firefighters helped battle the blaze.

Seven firefighters, one police officer and one civilian were injured during the fire, an FDNY spokesman told Patch.

Residents of 565 West 144th Street were relocated in hotels and shelters by the American Red Cross in the aftermath of the fire, a DOB spokesman said in November. Nearly 150 people — from 56 families — were relocated, the Red Cross told ABC 7 in November.

Photo by Andres Kudacki/Associated Press