Third teen charged with setting garage fire

A third teenager has been arrested in connection with an Oct. 11, 2017, fire that destroyed a garage containing barrels of used motor oil, according to the state police.

State police at Ulster arrested a 15-year-old boy from Olivebridge Friday and charged him with arson, a felony. The arrest follows that of two 14-yearolds, a boy on Jan. 3 and a girl on Tuesday, Jan. 9, who were also charged with arson in connection with the fire.

The teens, who police did not identify because of their ages, were released with tickets to appear in Olive Town Court.

On Wednesday, state Trooper Steven Nevel said police intend to charge “some additional people” in connection with the blaze. He could not be reached Saturday.

There were no injuries in the fire, which took firefighters about three hours to extinguish.

The garage was on the former Boiceville Lumber property at 95 Ronsen Road and had been out of business for about 10 years.

Ronsen Road is a short street that runs off state Route 28, directly across from Onteora Middle-High School.

Some of the used motor oil barrels in the building leaked, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation and New York City Department of Environmental Protection were called to the scene, along with Ulster County cause and origin investigators and state police.

The garage was about 1,000 feet from the upper Esopus Creek, which spills into the Ashokan Reservoir, part of New York City’s water supply, less than a mile downstream.