7 siblings die in NYC home fire; officials eye hot plate
Associated Press
NEW YORK
Seven siblings from an Orthodox Jewish family were killed early Saturday when a fire tore through their Brooklyn home after they had gone to bed, a tragedy that authorities believe was caused by a malfunctioning hot plate left on for the Sabbath.
The blaze killed three girls and four boys — age 5 to 16 — and left their mother and another child in critical condition. Fire officials said the flames would have prevented the mother, who escaped out a window, from trying to rescue her children.
“This is an unbelievable tragedy,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said after touring the charred residence. “Every New Yorker is feeling this pain right now.”
Fire investigators believe a hot plate left on a kitchen counter ignited the flames that raced up the stairs, trapping the children in their second-floor rear bedrooms, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
Many religious Jews do not use electricity on the Sabbath, along with refraining from work and observing other prohibitions meant to keep the day holy. As a result, some families may leave them on so they are usable without violating any religious laws or traditions.
Nigro called it the city’s worst fatal fire in recent memory.
“It’s a tragedy for this family, it’s a tragedy for this community, it’s a tragedy for the city,” he said.
Police officials identified the victims as members of the Sassoon family. Three of the children were girls: Eliane, 16, Rivkah, 11, and Sara, 6. Four were boys: David, 12, Yeshua, 10, Moshe, 8, and Yaakob, 5.
Nigro said authorities believe the father was away at a conference at the time of the fire. Neither his name nor those of the survivors were released.
The fire broke out after midnight while the children were asleep in five bedrooms in the rear of the home in Midwood, a section of Brooklyn known for its close-knit Orthodox Jewish population.