Rochester Fire Investigators have charged a so-far unnamed suspect with setting a series of fires last week, one of them at an abandoned downtown hotel.
The first fire happened November 2 at a vacant commercial building on Mortimer Street. The second came hours later at the shuttered Riverside Hotel on East Main Street, causing damage to the first two floors before fire crews brought it under control. The third fire was set in a dumpster behind the Family Dollar Store on Dewey Avenue in Rochester, causing some damage to the rear of the building.
The suspect has been charged with multiple counts of arson, plus criminal mischief and petit larceny. He’s in the Monroe County Jail.