As you can see, the flames have been billowing for hours. Ed . Reporter this fire broke out about 2 00 this afternoon. It actually started at a house. Three houses are at a total loss. Let me show you where these houses were. The fire jumped the canal over to Indian Island here in copague. Youll be able to see the houses right down in here, the middle house, that is 37 east Santa Barbara road. Thats where the fire started. It jumped to the two houses beside it and across the canal over to Indian Island. Az bring it back out here, you will see a lot of damage, a lot of acreage burned to a crisp on inaldian is and. No reports of injuries, but the condity,ns are so dry that this isod whats going to happen and this is the threat for the next couple days. Well bring you any updates. Reporting live on chopper 4, im ed hughes. Lets go back to the studio. Island and the man police say is the socalled ninja burglar. Today the suspended serial thief faced a judge after what was a decadeslong crime spree. He has confessed to more than 100 breakins on Staten Island again. Now they say he is ready to plead guilty. Ran rana novini is live with exactly how he did it. He carried out these robberies most of the time while people were still at home, getting away from thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry. Targeting expensive homes, more than 150 of them on Staten Island alone. The socalled ninja burglars notorious crime spree is over. Im very proud to announce the arrest and arraignment of the ninja burglar. Reporter the Staten Island d. A. Says robert co stan stanza admits looking for for over a decade. A pair of nunchuks earned him his nickname. The burglaries happened all over the Staten Island area. He pleaded guilty to a robbery there this week. The people of Staten Island are relieved. I think thats wonderful because now we can sleep better at night. Overhead helicopters, cops swarming all over the place. Reporter some terrorized, always worried the ninja burglar would strike again. The excuse we used with everybody was weve got a dog. Reporter costanza faces three burglary charges on long island. Still, they feel justice will be served. The ninja burglary case has finally been solved. Reporter hes expected to plead guilty to hose charges tomorrow. A judge will sentence him to an were live on Staten Island tonight, rana novini, new york. Two nypd detectives are facing charges of assaulting a mailman. They appea d in court today. They are accused of punching and kicking a postal worker last october in queens and then dragging him out of his car. Now, one of the detectives filed a sworn criminal Court Complaint that the mailman was parked in front of a fire hydrant. The prosecutors said Video Evidence pro es that was not true. If convicted, those detectives face up to seven years in prison. Natalie, newark Officials Say its 45day plan to cut down on crime is making progress. It was operation forge ahead, and the plan included the Police Department boosting the number of detectives on the major crimes unit. It also increased street patrols and consolidated some administrative jobs. The mayor says he is seeing improvement in the city, but there is still more work to be done. We had crime that exist nd decades. If i had a magic button, i would have pushed it already. The reality is we have to struggle with it every day and we have to be committed to it. Reporter in the next few weeks, roarke says they will roll out new initiatives concerning Police Training and oversight. A plane headed to a new york airport found itself grounded when a man on board said something about a bomb. The mans comments scared another passenger who then alerted the flight crew. Flight 441 was flying from albany, new york to newark shortlyobefore 6 00 this morning. Passengers and luggage were taken off the plane. A bombsniffin dog was brought on board. Nothing was found. Sometimes people say it if they have an illness or something to that effect, but obviously he did startle a lot of people. Passengers reboarded that plane and flew into newark. Police are questioning that man we first reported last year a Monmouth County community who is talking about disbanding its Police Department. Night Officials Say theyre going to have to do just that because voters rejected a property tax increase which would have been earmarked for law enforcement. The Asbury Park Press is reporting that mayor cuomo will now be paying 1 million to provide police protection. Basketball legend dwayne Pearl Washington has lsst his battle with brain cancer. Washington was a star player at brooklyns boys and Girls High School before becoming the most soughtafter recruit in the country. The native picked syracuse and led the school to three ncaa tournaments. Under the coach he went on to play three seasons of the nba. Washington was 52 years old. One of long islands largest universities is launching a multimedia effort to rebrand itself. Stoneburg university is calling its designed to dispel meths and misconceptions about the school, including the notion that most stony brook students are commuters. They are also trying to get them interested in humanities and social sciences. A skyscraper being built that will be taller than anything else in the borough. A new person on the 20 bill will be taking a slaveowners place. Thats not the only change coming to our cash. We had a pleasant day today. The only question is can we up the thermometer tomorrow . And what does the weekend hold . All those questions to be answered yet todayh natalie and david, well have the alleg coverup and criminal charges filed today in the flint water crisis. Andrew almaguer continues his reporting from the ecuadorian well review meat and dairy vo we developed the worlds first coronary bypass, and have worldrenownedrecialists taking on complex cases others cant handle. New at 5 30, volkswagen has reached a tentative deal to avoid a u. S. Trial over its diesel cheating scandal, and this means a payout fl or thousands of affected owners. A source owner with investigations tells the Associated Press that each customer could receive 5,000. Cars in the u. S. The case will be brought before a judge tomorrow. The 20 bill getting a major facelift, and for many its been a long time coming. Civil war era abolitionist Harriet Tubman will soon replace the face of andrew jackson, although his face will still appear on rhett the reverse side. We talked to people in harlem to see what they thought. Fantastic. Wonderful. I think its great. Its time for a change. There are other changes as well. Treasury secretary jacob lewis says leaders of the Womens Suffrage Movement will soon be found on the back of the 10 bill. On the front . Andrew jackson will keep his post despite earlier talk of changing that. When asked if it had anything to do with the early popularity of the hit broadway show, we were listened to the people. The new bill should be ready by 2020. The new skyscraper in brooklyn will stand two times as tall as any other building in the burrough. It will be part of the Dime Savings Bank in brooklyn. Part of the Dime Savings Bank will house new shops. Five children handcuffed and hauled out of their elementary school. Sit down and relax. It will be a while. Well tell you why there were long delays at the connecticut all across america families are coming back to Time Warner Cable for a whole new experience. Tthats because weve been working hard to give you better service, and it shows. Pwe came back for internet speeds so fast even the kids are impressed. Oh shes impressed. Were catching up on movies and ows on demand just as fast as we can watch them. For 89. 99 a month youll get 100 meg ultrafast internet, popular hd channels and unlimited calling. Twcs home wifi is so strong we can use all our devices at the same time. So we can all watch whatever we want. D thats kinda cool. Call now. For 89. 99 a month youll get theres no contract, no risk and our moneyback guarantee. Come back today and well give you free installation with our exclusive onehour arrival window. Feels good to be back. Come back today. Youll get free installation, tv equipment and epix included. And now get a 300 reward card. Despite some recent improvements in the nations air quality, Many Americans continue to breathe unhealthy air every single day. The American Lung association has released its annual state of the air report with some bad news for more than half the country. 166 million americans are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone which can burn the surface of your lungs. Some of the worst cities include los angeles and bakersfield, caaclifornia. Just like getting a sun burn inside your lungs. If youve got preexisting lung disease, its going to make it worse. If you have asthma, it will give you an asthma attack. New york got an f rating in the ozone category. Some of the best were hawaii and burlington, vermont. I know dave is talking about the dryness of conditions, especially with that brush fire on long isla. Through the headlines. Fire danger continues through the next 24 hours. Well get to that in a moment. Thunderstorms, a little bit more relief with more moisture, but so me of these could be strong on friday evening. And the weekend, it looks like well see good stuff for saturday and sunday. Look at those numbers. Low teens throughout morristown, bridgetown and trenton. We saw that fire earlier. Everyone relatively dry. 13 humidity in white plains. These are our temperatures right now. Pretty much were at our high. 68 in new york city, 67 in trenton. A story of fire and ice. First the ice. Cold air alert, frosty advisory through fairfield, connecticut and down in ocean county as well. I dont think the overnight temperatures are that impressive. Just keep in mind there is a frost advisory in effect and protect those plantings. Tomorrow numbers nice and warm throughout the area. Red bank. Getting breezy 20 to 25 miles an hour. We have a fire warning in effect, and i think this will turn into a red flag warning as we head into tomorrow. Same thing, gusty winds, high humidity. Storm tracker shows clear skies right now. This is our wind maker. Tomorrow at the end of the day, we begin to cloud on up, and that is the indicator of what heads our way as we head into friday night. Some of these thundershowers would be strong. Heres a look at your 7day forecast, everybody. We are going to see temperatures drop over the weekend, but we are going to see dry conditions, and thats the big story. Got to get through those tstorms. 80degree temperatures on friday. Next week cooler and more moisture in play. Thats a quick look at your weather picture. Folks, well send it back to you at the desk. A group of parents is outraged tonight after their kids, some as young as eight years old, were handcuffed and hauled out of school. Children ages 8 to 13 being held outside their nashville school. Police say the children witness aid fight among two younger students and didnt step in to stop the fight, so officers took them to the juvenile Detention Center and charged them with criminal responsibility of another. Now, parents and some lawmakers say this situation was handled all wrong. How would feel . Im frustrated. Its so far beyond the realm of what we should find tolerable as far as treatment of tennessees children. The police chief has apologized. He also promised there would be an internal review. Ikea has an important warning for customers tonight after another child was crushed to death by one of its dressers. Ikea first warned people to anchor the dressers to the wall after a child was killed last year. They are repeating that warning. That can be used to anchor those chests and dressers to the wall. A Laser Hair Removal Center was to help a customer. Instead hes calling better get baquero. He paid thousands to remove his hair. Instead he says the hair grew back and he wants his money back. He has a cleanshaven face, but the rest of his body . He turned to a place called bell air laser center for hair removal. I was told it was the newest laser on the market, and no side effects or anything like that that i needed to worry about, and that it would, you know, result in the permanent reduction. Reporter tim paid 5,000 for several treatments over the course of about a year and says he followed the aftercare instructions. But about a year later what happened after the end it just kept growing. The hair kept coming as if i had had a normal shave or a wax, it was coming right back. I didnt see any thinning of it. Reporter when tim called the bell air laser center, he said they suggested he buy another pack of treatments. He decided against that after talking to his dermatologist. It would be another four treatments, and she said even then i wouldnt suggest it if you were as hairy as i am. Reporter they used laser to remove hair in 2014, but the food and Drug Administration considers it a hair reduction. Any new follicles can begin to produce new hairs. Be sure you get a laser technician with a board certification. Tim turned to news4, hoping for i might spend significantly more hiding this. So i reach out to you. Well, we called the number at the dress for bel air laser center, and the office told us they are a new and completely different business at that location independently owned and operated. They said, though, to help customers, they would volunteer to honor the contracts of the prior business. But in this case, they said the customer signed a waiver that said the results were not guaranteed. So tim will not get his money back, but this kind of hair removal should just be considered a hair reductiof, so you have to be careful. Send an email to better get baquero. From now on everyone who reaches out will get a response from our news consumer investigative center. Day of headaches at the the problem that had some people waiting two, even three, hours. Students across new jersey were unable to take an assessment test today. What stopped them and why School Officials are are. Tonight, he tells you about it. Natalie and i will see you at [ grinding metal ] whoa, that doesn t look good. No, not you. Ordinary fuels can clog your engine with dirt. It s li lugging this around. It s dragging down your fuel economy. [ breaking glass ] but over time, using new and improved bp gasoline with invigorate helps clean up that dirt, like hundreds of scrubbing brushes. [ scrubbing bristles ] so that means a cleaner engine, which helps you get more miles per tank. I ll be here if you need me. New bp gasoline with invigorate. Stay away from the department of Motor Vehicles. Thats the message from dmv officials in connecticut today after more computer problems. Not everyone heeded the warning and they were greeted by long lines, even bigger headaches. Tonight stefan holt find out when things should get back to normal. Reporter the dmv warned people there would be delays and long lines today, yet folks came, anyway. They came and they waited. And waited. And waited. In the case of josephine kennedy, two hours. What would you rather be doing right now . I would rather be studying. Im in school. I would rather be doing my homework. I expected a long wait, but certainly nothing of this magnitude. Reporter they are the faces of boredom, everyone patiently waiting to hear their magic number. If the system is down, just let us know so we dont have to waste time over here. Were waiting over here for no reason. Reporter the same delays happened yesterday and several the department of Motor Vehicles blames sporadic computer outages on what was supposed to be an upgraded system. They expect full operations on thursday, but warn customers not to come today. Did you hear that warning . I did not hear that warning. Now you cant leave because ive already put in all this time, ive invested the time, ive got to stay. Reporter for some the waiting paid off. Others hit their breaking point. If your license or your registration expires today, the dmv is giving you until tom row at midnight to get that paperwork finished. The dmv also trying to figure out whats causing all these computer problems. In norwalk, im stefan holt, news4, new york. That will do it for us. Please continue watching. Stay with us as the news continues at 6 00. Announcer this is news4 new york. Get out of the house, get out of the house now at 6 00, a fire at one one neighborhood and disintegrate grates acres of dry brush. They open an investigation into the polls. Good evening, im chuck scarborough. And im natalie pasquarella. We know there was a fire at lynn hurst. The fire started in one house, ignited two other houses and jumped over the canal. News4 teams greg circle is there with the latest investigation. Reporter chuck and natalie, were about a block from the fire scene here in linden hurst. As you can see, its been chaotic here ever since the fire broke out at 2 30 this afternoon. Erupted in one home on east Santa Barbara road in i understanden lindenhurst and then spread to other homes. As you said, the fire jumped the canal and ignited brush in a county park just across the way. At least 1500 firefighters have been on the scene since this afternoon. The good news is nobody inside the homes was injured. Only one firefighter has been hurt hurt, suffering from smoke inhalation. The neighbors here telling me they were absolutely stunned of the height and intensity of the flames in this fire. All you saw was black smoke going up, and then out of nowhere, flames just came up. And they were twice as high as the house itself, and then you hedaard popping, pop pop, like wood or whatever it was. Then it went boof, like so, and the fire came out of both sides