Cops: Smoker Starts Motor Parkway Motel Fire

A Friday night fire that displaced 10 people at the Olympic Motor Lodge at 650 Vanderbilt Motor Parkway on the Hauppauge/Brentwood border was caused by a man who fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, police said.

According to Newsday, the unidentified man told Suffolk County Police that he woke up to find his mattress on fire, which he tried and failed to put out before the blaze spread to two adjacent rooms.

Nobody was reported injured in the fire. Police did not charge the smoker with a crime, though cops told Newsday that the force's Arson Squad was investigating.