ELLENVILLE – It doesn't matter that July and August are the hottest months of the year: people in love seem to need to set fires. Or at least, that seems to be the case based on recent activity by the Ellenville Police Department.

In the wee hours of the morning of Friday, August 14, officers arrested Juan Amador, 53, of Church Street in Ellenville, for allegedly setting fire to the house of a woman who had spurned his romantic advances.

It all started when the police got a call at about 1:30 a.m. that morning from a female complaining of being harassed and having had her life threatened by a would-be suitor. The caller said that she had smelled a foul odor around her house at 6 Church Street. Police went to investigate, and upon arriving, found that the source of the odor was, in fact, puddles of gasoline on her front door and around her building.

"Police searched the area, but found no individual in sight," said Police Chief Phil Mattracion of the incident, saying that the investigating officers returned to the station to finish filing the complaint.

"However, Sergeant Vanessa Nixon had a nagging feeling…and went back down to the residence, and once she did, she observed a male walking from the building carrying a red canister and a cigarette lighter, and immediately in back of him, the door went on fire," said Chief Mattracion.

"When Sergeant Nixon pulled up, the suspect immediately dropped the canister and the lighter, threw his hands up in the air, and said, 'I did nothing! I did nothing!'

"Obviously, with the flames, and the canister, and the lighter, police didn't necessarily believe that individual," said the chief.

The male discovered at the scene, Amador, was arrested, and after making some admissions during interviews and along with the evidence found at the scene, the police saw fit to charge him with arson in the third degree, a felony, and harassment in the second degree, a violation. However, Chief Mattracion said that police are looking into filing further charges based on his intent, and that the investigation is still open.

Fortunately, the building itself sustained very little damage, due in large part to the dedication and actions of the Ellenville Fire Department and Sergeant Nixon. "Due to the quick thinking actions of Sergeant Nixon, certainly she is to be commended in having that gut instinct…for not settling for what she saw and going back and further investigating it," said Mattracion. "She definitely played a large part in saving not only the building from being destroyed, but perhaps somebody from being seriously injured."

Ironically, the origin of the name 'Amador' comes from the Latin for "lovable."

This latest conflagration follows shortly after the July 29 arrest of Michael McCarthy for allegedly setting fire to his girlfriend's apartment on Kossar Place after a spat in a Kerhonkson Bar, during which he accused her of cheating on him.