Ithaca police have arrested a man for arson in connection with a house fire that occured at 120 Hudson Street early Wednesday morning.
Emergency responders arrived at about 1:20 a.m. to find the three story duplex “heavily involved with fire,” according to a press release from Ithaca Fire Department. Firefighers took about two hours to bring the fire under control.
All seven of the building’s occupants escaped and no other nearby houses were damaged, the release said. The American Red Cross helped the people displaced by the fire and investigators began to examine the cause of the fire.
Police determined that the fire was started intentionally, and at a little after noon on Wednesday, officers arrested Joshua Reeves and charged him with arson in the second degree in connection with the fire, according to an IPD press release. Reeves was arraigned in Ithaca City Court and was remanded to the Tompkins County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.
Courtesy of Ithaca Police Department
Joshua Reeves
Acting Chief of Police Pete Tyler said he was “saddened this happened in our community,” and thanked the Red Cross for its assistance in the IPD release.
He also noted that the arrest occured within 24 hours of the incident, calling it “a testament to the hard work by my officers and the great working relationships we share with other first responders in our community.”