BLOOMINGBURG – A 19-year-old Bloomingburg man has been arrested and charged with falsely reporting that his neighbor’s house was fully engulfed in flames.

Kyle Montanya of Burlingham Road was charged with falsely reporting an incident in the second degree as a felony and misdemeanors of reckless endangerment in the second degree, criminal contempt in the second degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree.

At 6 p.m. on September 27, Montanya called Sullivan County 911 and falsely reported the house fire. Responding fire companies were out at another fire call in Bloomingburg and because of the extreme nature of the Montanya call, they were forced to abandon the original call and rush to the Montanya call five miles away.

There was a driving rain at the time creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury to the responding firefighters.

Investigation revealed Montanya made the call in retaliation to a neighbor who had reported prior criminal behavior by Montanya, in violation of a standing order of protection issued by Town of Mamakating Court.

Montanya was arraigned and remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail.