Newark Man Accused Of Another Arson, 30 Years After Fatal Fire

NEWARK, NJ — A man who set a fire that killed a woman and left 90 people homeless in 1988 is facing a new arson charge in Newark, authorities said Friday.

Nathaniel Mickens, 56, of Newark, is accused of setting fire to a vacant property on the 500-block of 13th Avenue on April 16, according to the Newark Department of Public Safety.

Witnesses and surveillance cameras placed Mickens at the scene of the blaze. Police arrested Mickens at his home on Wednesday. He has been charged with second-degree aggravated arson, authorities said.

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said the April 16 arrest comes on the heels of a recent rash of “purposely set” fires set in vacant buildings. Those blazes have put Newark firefighters and the neighboring community “at tremendous risk,” he said.

Mickens has not been charged in connection with those fires. A police investigation continues, authorities said Friday.

According to a statement from the Newark Department of Public Safety, Mickens had two previous arson arrests in the 1980s. One fire claimed the life of his landlady, Emma Jean Thomas, who had evicted him a day earlier. As the fire spread, other apartments and homes were engulfed, leaving 90 people homeless.

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