Fire At The Coney Island Arcade, May Be Arson

UPDATE (10:50 p.m.): Just checked the Coney Island blogs and Kinetic Carnival is reporting the Coney Island Arcade has caught fire. Here’s what the site’s editor, Omar, writes:

Coney arcade on the Bowery in Coney Island was on fire a couple of hours ago!  No known cause as of yet.  The building is on the corner of W. 12th St and the Bowery.  Next to the building is the Coney Island Bank Building which is owned by Thor Equities that has been rumored to be on the endangered list of Thor demolitions.  The fire seems to be between the arcade building, owned by a long-time Coney arcade operator, and the adjoining concession.  No word yet and the current status or outcome.  It is presumed that the fire has, at this point, not spread.

UPDATE 2 (11:01 p.m.): Contributors to the Coney Island USA message board say the fire was reported over police scanners as suspicious (possibly arson). They also say that no one was hurt. From what we can tell, the forum was first with any information on the fire.

ORIGINAL: We received the following tip via Facebook:

Gothamist’s crime map is also showing a 2 alarm fire in the vicinity at around 8:49 p.m. Anyone have any additional information?