A Brooklyn man with a fiery past is behind bars after allegedly turning a quiet residential block into a raging inferno — and the entire act was caught on camera.
The suspect, 54-year-old Cassius Moss, was arrested after fire marshals say he doused the floor of a Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building with lighter fluid and sparked a three-alarm blaze that nearly consumed an entire block.
“He lit a match, and nearly lit up half the neighborhood,” said FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker in a fiery press conference on Tuesday. “This was not an accident. This was an act of chaos.”
Caught Red-Handed, Fueled by Convenience Store Lighter Fluid
Surveillance video obtained by fire investigators shows Moss at a corner bodega just blocks from the scene, casually grabbing a bottle of lighter fluid off the shelf. Minutes later, cameras captured him entering the building at 922 Lafayette Avenue, pouring the flammable liquid onto the floor, and igniting it with a cigarette lighter before fleeing the scene.
“Security footage didn’t lie,” Tucker added. “We saw it all. He bought the accelerant, walked in, and set the fire like it was nothing.”
Fireball in Bed-Stuy: Over 130 Firefighters Rushed In
The fire erupted around 2:30 p.m. last Wednesday and spread like gasoline-soaked paper. All three floors of the non-fireproof building were fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived — just three minutes after the first call.
Smoke was seen for blocks. Flames threatened to leap across rooftops. It took 138 firefighters over four hours to wrestle the inferno into submission.
One firefighter was injured in the battle. The building — now a charred skeleton — collapsed entirely. Two neighboring buildings were also heavily damaged.
Around 1:30 Wednesday afternoon, the FDNY responded to a 3-alarm fire at 922 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. Approximately 150 firefighters, EMTs and Officers responded. Two Firefighters suffered minor injuries.
— FDNY (@FDNY) June 4, 2025
“Brooklyn units arrived to 922 Lafayette Avenueand found heavy fire… pic.twitter.com/vKMwQQqi7Y
A Familiar Face to Fire Investigators
Moss isn’t new to arson charges. According to fire officials, he was previously arrested in July 2023 for a similar incident and had been under the radar of the Bureau of Fire Investigation ever since.
“Frankly, this man should’ve never been out on the street,” said one FDNY official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He had the motive, the history, and apparently — the lighter fluid.”
Moss was arraigned Tuesday on multiple felony charges, including second-degree arson and first-degree reckless endangerment. He has been remanded without bail. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is leading the prosecution.
A Wake-Up Call for Fire Safety
Officials confirmed that the destroyed building lacked fireproofing — a detail that only worsened the disaster. The FDNY is now urging landlords to evaluate fire safety precautions across similar properties in Brooklyn.
“This could’ve been a mass casualty event,” Commissioner Tucker warned. “We’re grateful it wasn’t. But make no mistake — this was a wake-up call.”
The FDNY has released dramatic footage of the fire response on social media, showing a thick plume of smoke rising from the rubble as firefighters doused the crumbling structure with water.
As for Moss, he’s back where officials say he belongs — in custody, and this time, with the flames he started caught on tape.
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