The devil made him do it!

The man busted for allegedly setting the fatal Brooklyn fire that killed five people last weekend -- including a mother who died saving her two kids -- claimed evil spirits caused him to spark the blaze, police said today.

Daniel Ignacio, 29, who lived in the three-story Bensonhurst building, was arrested early this morning and charged with arson and five counts of murder.

"I'm no monster. I have compassion," a cuffed Ignacio shouted at reporters this afternoon as he was hauled away in a police car.

Ignacio told police investigators that he was drunk at the time and used paint thinner to ignite a roll of toilet paper on fire with a cigarette lighter inside a baby carriage.

Investigators said that the early Saturday morning fire was set near the stairwell -- a lethal choice because it cut off the building's main exit and blocked firefighters from getting upstairs.

Ignacio, who told cops demons had led him to start the blaze, had an attack of remorse as the fire ripped through the first first floor -- even helping to rescue one of the kids out of the 86th Street building.

Ignacio then handed the child over to a Good Samaritan. Firefighters later rescued Ignacio as the building continued to burn.

"Any time someone starts a fire in a stairwell, it's a deadly fire," one investigator told The Post. "It's the worst you can get. A fire [that starts in an apartment] isn't half as bad."

Luisa Ordoñez, 33, died in her husband's arms after tossing their 2-year-old son and infant daughter to safety.

Four other people, including Juan Barreno, 28, a construction worker from Guatemala, also died in the blaze.

The fire was the city’s deadliest since a 2007 fire killed 10 people in the Bronx.

Cops said Ignacio has at least one past arrest for burglary and was deported back to his native Guatemala in 2003. He returned to this country a short time later, officials said.

Pastor Erick Salgado said he can't believe Ignacio set the fire.

"I saw him at the precinct [station house], and I thanked him for saving Josias," he said. "Now I can't believe he's the one who was charged."

Additional reporting by Leonard Greene and Philip Messing