(Reuters) – New York police arrested a man on Wednesday on suspicion that he had set on fire a 50-foot-tall Christmas tree outside the Fox News headquarters in midtown Manhattan.
Fox News security personnel called police shortly after midnight when they saw a man climbing the tree located at Sixth Avenue and 48th Street, police said.
When officers arrived on the scene they saw a man, identified as Craig Tamanaha, 49, running from the tree and arrested him. He faces several charges, including arson, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Firefighters extinguished the fire. No one was injured in the incident.
The red, white and blue-themed tree was decorated with 10,000 glass ornaments and 100,000 lights and was lit in a ceremony on Sunday. It took workers 21 hours to assemble, the network said.
“We will not let this deliberate and brazen act of cowardice deter us,” FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement. “We are in the process of rebuilding and installing a new tree as a message that there can be peace, light and joy even during a dark moment like this.”
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Angus MacSwan)
