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.

It took firefighters six hours to put out a half-dozen small brush fires in Medford on Tuesday — and at least one of the blazes was allegedly started by Medford volunteer firefighter Jonathan Quiles, authorities said.

Quiles, 20, purposely set a fire in a wooded area on Mount Vernon Avenue Tuesday afternoon, damaging a 2004 Chevrolet parked nearby, police said. No injuries were reported in Tuesday's fires.

The fire burned through an area of Twelve Pines Park Tuesday afternoon, with firefighters returning Wednesday morning to put out hot spots. The blaze was one of several brush fires in Suffolk County this week.

Quiles 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.

Brookhaven supervisor Dan Panico told NBC New York he intends to press charges against Quiles. The Medford Fire Department said Quiles has been suspended as a volunteer.

"The Medford Fire District performs arson background checks before admitting members and there was no knowledge to suspect that this individual may have had any inclination of intentionally setting fires," the department said in a

shared on Facebook.

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