reference, this is the copiague/linden border. we're here on east santa barbara road. you see the amount of police and emergency personnel that have been here throughout the afternoon. as i said we're just up the block from where the fire actually began. this is video that just came in like something out of a movie. the home goes up in flames shortly before 2:00 this afternoon. you can see how the flames and dry wind were a terrible combination out here. the fire then jumps to three other homes. the embers cross a canal. and a brush fire breaks out in indian point park. so seven different fire departments arrive. some of them in boats, fighting that brush fire. meanwhile, this neighborhood was really beaten up badly during superstorm sandy. many of these residents literally just getting set to move back in to their homes and now this.

entire house to sandy and just today my final inspection from the town of lindenhurst, babylon town hall, the inspector was there to give me my final okay on the house, which he did. when i got here, that inspector was here fighting this fire. he had said to me, the house on the left is totally gone and it looked intact. he said the walls inside are all on fire. >> we're back here live where you can see down the road the firefighter in the bucket still putting water on this fire. it was really just a rough go. the dry weather and wind definitely not helping and of course a lot of people very nervous. they were hosing down the roofs of their homes. they know what it feels like to lose a home. earlier today we talked to someone who had five homes, he owned five homes on this block. you can just imagine how nervous these people were but the fire is now under control. only one person hospitalized

inhalation. there was a family inside that first home that burned. mother, father, and child, they all got out safely. we're live in copiague, stacey sager, channel 7 eyewitness news. breaking news now involving another fire, this time in queens. a fire in the power generation plant at roxedale village. this is in jamaica. the fire is out but firefighters going through the 121 elevators of the complex looking for them. operators say they expect to have the power restored by night fall. we're learning new details in the arrest of a suspect known as the ninja burglar. guilty tomorrow. he's suspected in more than 150 burglaries in our area that spanned a decade and stole more than $4 million in goods. eyewitness news reporter darla miles is in the st. george section of staten island with the story. >> because of the statute of limitations and in part because

to be entered here tomorrow at the staten island courthouse, prosecutors say they only plan to charge robert costanzo with three counts of burglary in the second degree. in all of these cases, the most infamous ninja burglar sighting, they say they can't even connect him to that one. >> the particular case you mentioned where there was a victim who mentioned or saw nunchucks and someone in black clothing, we're not able to confirm that was one of the cases he was involved in. >> reporter: there are about 150 burglary cases police say they can link robert costanzo too. these are the black hoodie, pants and mask he wore which earned him the nickname ninja burglar. >> this man robert costanzo is the ninja burglar. he committed all the burglaries that were a blight on this community for 10 years. >> reporter: it wasn't just staten island. the 46-year-old hit homes in 2006.

one burglary in historic grimes hill where investigators say costanzo grabbed a neighbor's ladder and tried to break in to a second floor window. >> quite often he'd target the master bedroom because that's where so many people would keep their valuables. >> reporter: investigators say costanzo who was also a registered level 3 sex offender from a 1992 conviction worked as a welder before he went on the ninja burglar crime spree. during the spree he had been living a normal life with a woman and children at this staten island home. >> he had a normal appearance, was going about business during the day that would not raise any suspicions. >> reporter: in 2014 detectives from the tri-state area realized they had burglaries with similar patterns. last week while in custody for a home invasion in connecticut, he gave a two-day video confession where he told them he was in fact the ninja burglar, even taking a little pride in the name.

notoriety in having it. >> and of the $4 million police say costanzo acquired over the 10-year period in cash, goods, and jewelry, they say he would sometimes keep those designer handbags to give away as gifts. reporting live in the st. george section of staten island, darla miles, channel 7 eyewitness news. a grand jury has indicted two nypd detectives on charges of assaulting a postal worker. karim baker says detectives angelo pampena and robert carbone punched, kicked, and dragged him last year. pampena is charged with perjury for alleging baker was parked in front of a fire hydrant. prosecutors say video shows the car was parked 15 feet away. baker had been sought for questioning after unwittingly giving cop killer ismaaiyl brinsley directions on the day brinsley shot and killed two nypd officers in brooklyn back in 2014.

both detectives have been suspended without pay. the new york state attorney general is launching an investigation tonight in to the board of elections and voting irregularities during yesterday's primaries. the attorney general says he's deeply troubled by thousands of complaints that were lodged on the voters' hot line. he says most of them were from people who claimed they tried to vote but were told they were unregistered or not registered in the correct party to cast a ballot. now to vote 2016. those voting problems not withstanding two new yorkers running for president. these two new yorkers. tonight still riding high after two victories. hillary clinton and donald trump each winning by double digits. trump picking up 89 republican delegates in new york. kasich picked up four. cruz got none. abc news estimates trump has 845 total delegates, 392 short of

nomination. trump nearly 300 delegates ahead of ted cruz who is mathematically now eliminated from securing the nomination before the convention. kasich is third. he actually beat trump in manhattan, home to trump's headquarters. it's the only district in the state donald trump didn't win. for the democrats, hillary clinton picking up 175 delegates. bernie sanders picked up 106. abc news estimates both add super delegates to the total. she's now 453 away from the 2383 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. bernie sanders has 1189. next up, tuesday, connecticut and pennsylvania are among five states holding primaries. that's where the candidates are now campaigning. dave evans in the newsroom with the latest. >> last night pushed this race closer to what we expected. donald trump versus hillary clinton.

but their opponents, they aren't going quietly away. >> reporter: forgive hillary clinton if she was a little giddy last night here in her adopted hometown. >> today you proved once again there's no place like home. >> reporter: there was real worry in the clinton campaign about stopping the bernie express, but clinton made clear in a campaign stop in philadelphia today and last night that she's determined to bring the sanders campaign to a screeching halt. >> victory is in sight. >> reporter: a lot of democrats are now saying sanders is hurting clinton. he took the day off in vermont but vows to fight on. >> next week we will be competing in pennsylvania, connecticut, rhode island, maryland and delaware. >> reporter: on the republican side, a similar argument from frontrunner donald trump, such a convincing new york win that ted cruz mathematically can't win now before the convention. trump says cruz needs to step aside, tweeting out now all he can be is a spoiler, never a

i will beat hillary. today in indiana trump looked beyond the primary to the likelihood of trump versus clinton. >> i will fire hillary. hillary, you're fired. believe me. she'll be fired. if she ever gets a chance to run. >> reporter: but cruz refuses to give up, like sanders, he vows to fight on. >> i'll tell you across the country 65% to 70% of republicans recognize that donald trump is not the best candidate to go head to head with hillary clinton. >> former presidential candidate marco rubio says despite his bitter differences with trump, he would indeed support him if he wins the party's nomination this summer. trump is now claiming he believes he will have about 1400 delegates before the convention. the republican nominee, whoever that is, needs 1237. >> we shall see. meanwhile, there is still no

election on long island to fill the seat of dean skelos, the former senate majority leader convicted of corruption. all the precincts are now reporting democrat todd kaminski leads his opponent republican christopher mcgrath. ballots are still outstanding with the largest group being democrats. kaminski is declaring victory. mcgrath says the race is too close to call. as we continue with eyewitness news at 6:00 for this wednesday night, the search for the man who attempted to rape a jogger this morning in brooklyn's prospect park. >> the sports world remembering duane pearl washington, a new york city basketball legend. >> and the 8th straight dry day.

look at that humidity at 9%. and there are fire weather watches already up for tomorrow for parts of the area as well as

new at 6:00, an attempted sexual assault on one of the most popular and safest parks in new york city.

sunrise this morning in prospect park in brooklyn. she refused to be a victim and she fought back. >> police are searching for the would-be rapist. joe torres is at the park with the latest. >> the attacker in this attempted sexual assault as you mentioned was armed with a knife. he approached the jogger as she was here this morning, early morning hours in prospect park. approached her from behind. then in words that still perhaps haunt the victim, he told her what he was going to do to her while she put up the fight of her life, so much so, it prompted the suspect to flee. >> reporter: 10 hours after an attempted sexual assault in prospect park, investigators continued their search for clues as they tried to close in on an armed attacker. >> my heart is what hurts. i hate to think that that had happened, that it's happened in this park. it's so well used. and it just truly concerns me. >> reporter: police don't have much to work with. the attack happened before

there are no cameras in the park. it's far from crowded. and investigators barely have a description of the suspect who approached the jogger from behind, threw her to the ground, pulled out a knife and threatened to sexually assault the woman who was jogging alone. >> i don't really think of it as being dangerous but maybe that's wrong. >> will you be thinking twice now perhaps about setting foot in the park for a jog >> that early in the morning, definitely. >> reporter: the bureau president talked about that, jogging alone in the pre-dawn hours. while eric adams in no way blames the victim for what happened, the former police officer did provide this advice. >> my advice is to run outside the park. you have windows here where people can see. my advice would be trying to run in packs or groups. >> 13 hours later, crime scene investigators still on the scene in the park. no cameras in the park but there

along prospect park west behind our camera. investigators will scour those cameras if in fact they come across an image of the person they believe to be the suspect. according to the borough president, that image will be released to the public. joe torres, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> if that happens we'll bring it to you tonight on eyewitness news at 11:00. let's take a quick look at wall street. stocks continued their rally today. dow up 42. nasdaq finished 8 points higher. s&p 500 gaining more than a point. still to come, lee and he says we've got one more really

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wind not so much a concern today even though we had the big fire but wind will be a concern tomorrow. >> obviously you can tell even these conditions it doesn't take much. swirling winds with the sea breeze and tomorrow the winds are gusting over 20 in the afternoon. same type of idea.

tomorrow but not fast enough so we're concerned about a high fire risk tomorrow. outside this evening it's beautiful outside of the fire danger. a summer traffic pattern all of the sudden. wow, for a wednesday evening commute, looking good. not a cloud in the sky. little sun glare maybe. 67 degrees. single digit percent humidity. where are we, in albuquerque? calm wind and pressure holding steady. high today, 68 degrees. 5 degrees above average. about 10 degrees above average tomorrow. sunset tonight about an hour and a half. here are your headlines. a frosty night in a few suburbs north and west. warmer wind will kick in tomorrow. after that early chill it feels toasty in the afternoon. the problem is the high fire risk. there's a thunderstorm threat on friday especially later in the day, a few showers around as well. mainly later in the day. and another nice weekend coming up after that. we've cooled down on the island in copiague, around 59. the brush fire. and now we have a wind coming

in terms of our numbers inland, they're in the low and middle 60s right now. relative humidity, look how it climbs along the coast when the ocean air goes in to effect. 30% to 50% in the coast. 9% in the park and below 20% north and west. this is what the radar looked like near the brush fire this afternoon. initially the wind was coming out of the north. it pushed a smoke plume in to the atlantic. then the wind switched direction with the sea breeze and we started to see smoke go toward north babylon and haywood. frost advisory tonight. parts of northwest new jersey, cover those delicate plans again. fire weather watch for new jersey, i think it will be for the entire area. sunshine. clear skies overnight and light wind. light wind picks up tomorrow. this storm is so slow to advance eastward so warmer wind kicks in. couple showers by friday morning north and west but a better chance for all of us later in to the day and friday night.

out the door you'll need the jacket. won't need it in the afternoon. low and middle 70s. rain showers holding off. more widespread in the afternoon and even a rumble of thunder in to your evening commute but it's not a washout. clear, cool, and moon-lit. high of 72. breezy, warmer. sun mixing with clouds. still a nice bright day. it will cloud over tomorrow night. look how mild it is tomorrow night. 59. you've got nothing more than a shower friday morning. showers become more widespread in the afternoon. maybe a thunderstorm in to the evening. not a washout. saturday is the warmer half of the weekend. clouds give way to sun. sun is a little cool. so is early next week with a threat of a shower monday. that monday forecast is a tough one. big reach in temperature. >> little tweaking here and there. rob is up next with sports. >> nice time for baseball. again tonight we've got plenty to get in to. woo do have some baseball. we've got some football. we've got a big hockey game tonight in brooklyn. straight ahead, we'll get you right to the side for a preview of tonight's islander game. we'll start with the pearl.

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talk about a local legend and talk about gone way too soon. >> saw the clips, heard the stories. now it's over. from the brownsville section of brooklyn, dwayne washington died today. ball handling, court vision, the ability to make play after play. washington dazzled on the playgrounds and at boys and girls high. went on to be maybe the biggest recruit syracuse university ever had. elevated an entire league. he was drafted by the nets, but pearl's game didn't really translate to the nba. he'll be remembered for his city roots and his college game. pearl washington dead of cancer

in brooklyn tonight, we've got hockey. the islanders, panthers, nhl stanley cup playoffs resumes. isles up two games to one. laura behnke is here with more. >> the islanders may be one win away from pushing the panthers to the brink of elimination, according to jack capuano, it's just business as usual for his team. >> reporter: tonight at the barclays center the islanders will try to do something that hasn't been done in this series so far, win a second in a row. >> a win is a win. obviously coming off a loss, you want to correct things and there's a determination to get back in the win column. >> reporter: the isles and panthers have traded wins thus far with new york coming off an emotional game time win. >> this is game 1. it's a new day. you've got to put that on the back burner. >> we start fresh.

you can't really ride the highs and lows. >> reporter: one thing the islanders can't afford to do is fall behind early, an issue so far this series. >> first 5, 10 minutes, especially the start of periods, the emotion is high. the crowd is in to it. you just want to play a simple game and stay under control. >> the isles felt right at home at barclay center. tonight it will be another orange out. the towel was flying as the team leads on its fan base. laura behnke, channel 7 eyewitness news. and no sound check. thank you very much. the rangers and penguins tomorrow. a ranger loss last night. ranger fans upset about this. pittsburgh's letang nailing stalberg across the neck. for stalberg, three missing teeth. game 4 at the garden tomorrow. nfl draft trade. the browns give up the number 2 overall pick to the eagles for five picks, presumably philadelphia grabs one of the

carson wentz and jared goff, whichever guy the rams don't take number 1. yankees-as. mets play at philly. good things do tend to happen when you hit six home runs. conforto, cespedes, walker. walker again. duda, granderson. 17 home runs in the first five games of the road trip. the record is up over the .500 mark. bartolo colon starts tonight. finally from us, pretty good catch in the game last night as well. 8th inning, two men on for the phils. juan lagares at the wall. college ball, kentucky against louisville. 2nd baseman trying to make the play. ball bounces off somebody's head. center fielder storm wilson makes the play. he saves the day and the play. >> are those guys all right? >> everybody was fine. [ laughter ] take a look at some of the

eyewitness news tonight at 11:00. they're not just bedbugs, they're super bedbugs. wait till you hear why these are tougher to get rid of. >> a new speed record. how fast engineers got this vehicle going. and where else this technology is being used. those stories and much more at 11:00. >> buckle up. >> that's good. at least you're buckling up. that's it for us for now. thanks for watching. drive safely. i'm bill ritter. >> i'm liz cho. world news tonight with david mure is next. have a great night. see you tonight at 11:00. tonight, as we come on the air, we're following several breaking stories. the major arrests. government officials accused of coverup in that toxic water crisis in flint. tonight, michigan's top prosecutor saying more charges are coming. the race for 2016.