Steve Lieberman and James O'Rourke

SPRING VALLEY – A Spring Valley woman has been charged with intentionally starting the fire that destroyed an illegal garage apartment in her Madison Avenue home early Wednesday.

Sandra Sanichar, 56, was arrested by Spring Valley police hours after the blaze, Detective Sgt. Jim Noble said. Police believe that after fighting with her husband, she used gasoline to ignite a fire in the garage while he slept.

More than 25 Spring Valley volunteer firefighters responded to 44. S. Madison Ave. just after 2:40 a.m. to find flames and heavy smoke pouring from the garage into the foyer of the house.

"When we got there, smoke and a red glow was coming from the rear of the house," Spring Valley Assistant Fire Inspector Frank Youngman said. "When we made our way to the front door, the heat was unbearable."

Volunteers cut through the painted-over garage doors and a wall that had been built behind them, officials said.

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Battalion Chief Ray Canario was the first Spring Valley volunteer on the scene, followed by Deputy Fire Chief Ken Sohlman and then others.

"There was a lot of flames pushing out of the back," Sohlman said. "The flames started going into the living area. The firefighters closed an open door, and that stopped the flames from being sucked into the house."

There were no injuries.

Officials initially believed the blaze may have been electrical in nature, but by the afternoon, Spring Valley and Rockland County sheriff's investigators had found evidence pointing toward arson, Noble said.

Youngman said Seeram Sanichar, Sandra Sanichar's husband, was lucky to have escaped the blaze. He was sleeping in the garage with the window open and the only working smoke detector in the home — on the first floor — went off late.

"The open garage window likely saved his life," Youngman said. "What woke him up was the smoke. It wasn't a smoke detector because there wasn't one."

Sandra Sanichar was arraigned in Spring Valley Village Court, where she was charged with second-degree arson and first-degree reckless endangerment, felonies, Noble said. She was released after posting $5,000 bail.

Youngman said the couple, who have owned the home since 1991, also will be issued summonses for illegally converting the garage and basement into living quarters, for not having working smoke detectors and for zoning violations.

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