Smoke in the Boy's Room

There was a time when students went to the can for a quick smoke between classes. Lately, however, a few students at Stuyvesant are more interested in creating minor emergencies rather than sneaking in a little nicotine.

One smart firebug? Stuyvesant student arrested for setting fires at high school

Friday, November 20th 2009

A junior at Stuyvesant High School has been arrested for setting fires at the elite school, officials said Friday.

Mohammed Hassan set small fires in a bathroom, hallway and a stairwell Thursday in the prestigious Manhattan school, fire and police sources said.

No one was injured, officials said.

Hassan was captured on a surveillance camera setting the mini-blazes, officials said.

"He was caught on a video camera the school has," said Department of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg.

The accused firebug was charged with attempted arson and reckless endangerment. He was arraigned Friday in Manhattan Criminal Court and released on $2,500 bail.

Sources said Hassan set garbage cans and paper towel dispensers on fire in the fourth-floor bathroom, a 10th-floor hallway and in a stairwell between the fifth and sixth floors.

The arrestcomes as fire marshals are investigating several other fires at the school in the past week, sources said.

On Nov. 13, fires were set in the men's bathrooms on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors. Fires were started on several floors on Monday and Tuesday, too.

No one has been arrested in those fires. Hassan has not been tied to them, but sources said the investigation is ongoing.