EAST VILLAGE — A suspected arson attack on an Avenue A restaurant has left management confused as to who could have sparked the blaze.
The NYPD said Tuesday that Monday afternoon's fire at the Flea Market Café was considered by fire marshals to have been deliberately set. No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.
The FDNY would not comment on the cause of the fire Tuesday, saying that the incident is now a police matter.
The blaze started just after 1:20 p.m. Monday and was under control within 30 minutes, the FDNY said.
A manager at the restaurant, which reopened Tuesday night and was already packed with patrons by 7:30 p.m., was at a loss when discussing the investigation.
“I might be a little naïve, but I really don’t know anyone that would do that,” said Harveen Bonnet, 33, who’s worked at the café for nearly three years.
“It’s one of those mysteries only the cops will be able to figure out,” he added.
Bonnet explained that he saw charred napkins on the floor in the aftermath of the blaze, which only claimed a table and two chairs, and believed that they could have ignited the fire.
A single staff member had been at the restaurant that afternoon to clean the space, but the worker told Bonnet he was on break at the time and not inside the eatery. The restaurant opens daily at 4 p.m.
Bonnet speculated that anything from a lit cigarette to candles to faulty electrical wiring could have been responsible for the fire, dismissing the notion that a staff member intentionally lit it.
“If you really want to burn down the place, you wouldn’t do it that way,” he said of the incident, noting the very minor damage. “For me there’s no reasoning behind it.”
Bonnet did suggest that somebody could have started the fire from outside the premises, despite reports of something breaking the glass from inside the restaurant during the blaze.
He added that the Flea Market Café has operated for 14 years without incident, and that he couldn’t think of anyone upset with the restaurant.
Investigators did tell Bonnet that they found a blowtorch on the premises — commonly used for dishes like crème brulee — but they didn’t indicate where the torch was located inside the restaurant after the fire, he said.
A witness who was across the street when the blaze began said he saw someone inside the restaurant at the time of the fire.
“Who could that be?” asked Bonnet.
