Two of New York’s Bravest were busted last night on charges of torching the door of a Midtown firehouse, authorities said.
An investigator described the bizarre blaze – which broke out at Engine 34/Ladder 21 on West 38th Street at 2:15 a.m. Saturday – as a “prank gone bad.”
But FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta called the alleged arson “an outrageous, depraved act that should be prosecuted to the full extent under the law.”
Michael Izzo, 30, and Richard Capece, 31 turned themselves in to fire marshals and were charged with second-degree arson, first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal mischief. All are felonies.
Bail for each was set at $30,000 bond or $20,000 cash at their arraignments early today in night court.
“On paper, this appears far more serious than it was,” Izzo’s lawyer, Robert Gallo, told Judge Abraham Clott.
Izzo and Capece have been suspended without pay.
The duo doused the firehouse’s front truck door with gasoline and ignited it, investigators said.
An on-duty firefightere saw smoke wafting in from under the door.
He and his colleagues doused the blaze before it got out of control.
No one was injured.
The act was caught on surveillance video, investigators said.
Last night, a firefighter who answered the scorched bay door of the firehouse declined to discuss the blaze, saying, “It’s an ongoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, WNBC/Channel 4 reported two firefighters purchased a plastic canister and filled it with fuel at a gas station around the corner from Engine 34/Ladder 21 about 15 minutes before the blaze.
Capece, who once worked at the West 38th Street firehouse, is a five-year FDNY veteran now assigned to Engine 1 in Manhattan.
Izzo has been on the job for six years and is assigned to Engine 242 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Neither had any comment as they were walked by fire marshals into Central Booking.
Additional reporting by David K. Li