Cops: Fire that injured Shirley woman was 'criminal incident'

The victim of a Shirley house fire remained hospitalized with serious injuries Friday as detectives investigated the Thursday afternoon blaze "as a criminal incident," Suffolk County police said.

"It appears that the manner in which the fire was set is suspicious," a police spokeswoman said. Police declined to specify how the fire was set and withheld the identity of the woman, who remained at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue Friday.

Police initially said the woman had been transported to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.

The fire occurred at the house on William Floyd Parkway about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. A smoke detector went off at the home, which is divided into two apartments, alerting a male resident who lived there, police said.

The man, assisted by a passing motorist, then entered the adjoining apartment -- from which the two men then rescued the woman from the house, police said.

The male resident "was treated and released from the hospital with symptoms unrelated to the fire," police said in a news release Friday.

The fire originated in the woman's apartment, police said, without elaborating. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to call Arson Section detectives at 631-852-6024 or anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.