MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-03-22 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] in the hands of god, we are all...
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http://www.vosizneias.com/198259
I want to say it makes me angry that this catastrophe is being taken
advantage of to promote a bad policy with regard to Smoke Detector. The
idea that we would all be safe if we all had smoke detectors, or that
the family was negligent is bullshit. The vast majority of smoke
detectors keep getting turned OFF because they suck. If they were built
well, and smartly, they MIGHT be useful in some cases. Let this family
grieve. Spot feeding us bullshit.
When we lived in a similar house I used to drill with the kids the means
of escape because it was OBVIOUS that once the stairwell becomes
engulfed with fire, the ONLY way out was from the second floor.
No modern building should be built without sprinklers... Fire
Extinguishers are needed all around the house. And even if you do this
all, it will never stop all the fires and all the deaths. This family
is guiltless of anything other than having a Shabbos meal, and being
killed in a terrible event.
To the ciy they are just a statistic and a campaign ad. But I loved
this family. I do love this family and all the other families like them.
Reuvain
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Midwood, NY - Seven siblings from a Syrian Orthodox Jewish family were
killed early Saturday when a fire tore through their two-story Brooklyn
home after they had gone to bed, a tragedy that authorities believe was
caused by a malfunctioning hot plate left on during the Sabbath.
The blaze took the lives of three girls and four boys - ages 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 Commissioner Daniel 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.
Fire investigators believe a hot plate on a kitchen counter ignited
flames that raced up the stairs, 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.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight while the children were asleep
inside the home in Midwood, a leafy section of Brooklyn known for its
low crime and large Orthodox Jewish population.
Firefighters arrived less than four minutes after receiving the call to
find the mother, badly burned and distraught, outside and pleading for
help. When they broke the door, they encountered a hopeless situation -
a raging fire that had already spread through the kitchen, dining room,
common hall, stairway leading upstairs and the rear bedrooms.
“Unfortunately, the outcome may have been determined before they
arrived,” Nigro said.
After making their way through intense smoke and heat, firefighters
found the young victims motionless in three of the four bedrooms in the
home, officials said.
“It’s difficult to find one child in a room during a search,” Nigro
said. “To find a houseful of seven children that can’t be revived ...”
New York Police Department officials identified the victims as members
of the Sassoon family: three girls - 16-year-old Eliane, 11-year-old
Rivkah and 6-year-old Sara - and four boys - 12-year-old David,
10-year-old Yeshua, 8-year-old Moshe and 5-year-old Yaakob. All victims
are from a nice Syrian Jewish family.
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.
Fire investigators found a smoke detector in the basement of the home.
But none were found elsewhere in the house, Nigro said, adding, “To hear
a smoke detector two floors below is asking a lot.”
By Saturday afternoon, the fire department had set up a table on the
corner of the block and distributed pamphlets reminding residents they
should have smoke detectors.
Karen Rosenblatt said she called 911 early Saturday morning after seeing
the flames. Her husband Andrew said he heard a girl’s voice screaming,
“Help me!”
Many other neighbors who spoke to reporters declined to give their
names, but expressed great sadness over the fire.
The last residential blaze with a similar death toll happened in 2007,
when eight children and an adult were killed in a fire in a 100-year-old
building in the Bronx where several African immigrant families lived.
Fire officials said an overheated space heater cord sparked that blaze.??
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