Arson-Plagued Bukharian Jews in Queens Now Being Hit by Trash Fires

Trash arsonist Image by Screen Shot

By John A. Oswald December 13, 2015

A second arsonist has struck the Bukharian Jewish community in Queens, where seven homes under construction or renovation have been torched, officials said.

This time, it’s a suspected copycat fire starter, New York City police said Friday, and the target is mounds of rubbish.

In a short window of time late last Wednesday, the new suspect, shown in grainy surveilance video, set three trash fires in the Forest Hills neighborhood dominated by Bukharian Jews.

The fires were all set near the corner of Austin Street and 69th Road in Forest Hills,

Police last week issued a new video of the man they suspect is behind the home fires that hit the Bukharian community.

John Oswald is The Forward’s deputy digital media editor.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news the rest of 2025 brings.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Membership Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO