A firebug ran around the Upper West Side on Friday morning, setting fire to garbage cans and torching two parked cars, officials said.
The first blaze was set at about 3:30 a.m. near the American Museum of Natural History on W. 77th St. near Columbus Ave., where a white man wearing a hooded long coat, blue jeans and a blue backpack was seen setting fire to a garbage can.
That fire quickly spread to two parked cars nearby, damaging both vehicles, officials said.
The arsonist resurfaced about 40 minutes later and five blocks away on W. 82nd St. near Columbus Ave.
The same man set fire to a garbage can outside a home on W. 82nd St., damaging it.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
The arsonist ran off on foot. No arrests have been made.
On Wednesday, a daring mugger held up a 57-year-old woman at gunpoint at the 86th St. subway stop for B and C trains at Central Park West, a few blocks further north from where the fires were set.
“This is real,” the armed mugger seethed as he pressed the gun to the woman’s head and robbed her of her bag, which contained her iPhone, wallet and some credit cards.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
