NYC police arrest homeless man in huge warehouse fire

(6/07/06 - NEW YORK) -- Police arrested a homeless man Wednesday on charges he started a fire that destroyed a historic waterfront complex last month.

Kuczera Leszek, 59, was held on arson, burglary and other charges.

He allegedly started the fire while trying to burn off insulation from copper cable he planned to steal and sell as scrap, police said.

The May 2 blaze in Brooklyn took nearly 36 hours to douse.

Officials said the fire was the city's biggest -- excluding the World Trade Center disaster -- since a blaze at Brooklyn's St. George Hotel in 1995.

The huge plume of roiling black smoke was visible for miles.

The destruction included a building that was the world's largest rope factory in the late 19th century and a portion of the former Greenpoint Terminal Market, a place preservationists wanted listed as a city landmark.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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