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A firebug set the outdoor dining shed ablaze at the famed Upper West Side deli Barney Greengrass early Thursday, cops said.
The “unknown individual” started the 5 a.m. fire on Amsterdam Avenue near West 87th Street and fled on foot, causing only property damage, police said.
Gary Greengrass, generation owner of the Jewish deli – which bills itself “The Sturgeon King” – told the Post the left side of the structure was “engulfed,” causing electrical damage.
“I guess he was looking to make his own smoked fish,” Greengrass quipped.
No one was in the shed at the time, and there were no tables or chairs on the deck – but the shed was rendered unusable and will need to be reconstructed, Greengrass said.
“On the positive side, thank God nobody was hurt, thank God nobody was around,” the owner said.
Greengrass said he doesn’t think the deli was specifically targeted.
“I think it’s some arsonist going around the neighborhood,” he said. “An arsonist going out having fun in his mind.”
The FDNY said it responded to four rubbish fires in the neighborhood around the same time: one at the West 86th Street and Broadway subway station at 5:07 a.m.; another at the Broadway and West 70th Street station at 5:23 a.m.; a separate trash fire outside a co-op building on West 87th Street near Amsterdam Avenue at 5:26 a.m.; and another at West 96th Street and Broadway at 5:51 a.m.
The department said it responded to the Barney Greengrass blaze at 5:38 a.m.
The FDNY said it is under investigation whether the other fires were intentionally set, and whether all of the incidents are connected.
The incidents come days after serial arsonist Armando Calderon, 66, was busted for allegedly setting two trash can fires in Midtown — one in Penn Station — before being let out on desk appearance tickets both times, according to police.
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