NEW YORK CITY (WABC) A large Christmas tree outside Fox’s Midtown headquarters was set ablaze early Wednesday by an arsonist who was quickly taken into custody.
The 50-foot tree on Sixth Avenue went up in flames just before 12:15 a.m., and heavy flames then spread to smaller decorated trees in the display.
Police say the 49-year-old suspect climbed up “the metal superstructure” — the tree is an artificial sculpture that is shaped to look like a tree — lit papers he brought with him on fire, and shoved the papers into the tree structure.
He then climbed down and watched from the street level as it burned, and he was spotted by building security who pointed the man out to police officers posted in nearby Rockefeller Center.