7 children killed in US house blaze
Print Edition
A FIRE that tore through a home in a heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, leaving seven children dead and two other people in a critical condition, might have been caused by a malfunctioning hot plate left on for the Sabbath, the city’s fire chief said yesterday.
Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the children killed range in age from five to 15.
He said a woman and teenager survived after jumping from the second floor.
The woman is believed to be the mother of all eight children, Nigro said.
“This is the largest tragedy by fire that this city has had in seven years,” he said.
“It’s a tragedy for this family, it’s a tragedy for this community, it’s a tragedy for
the city.”
The names of the deceased were not released.
Nigro said he believes the father is at a conference and officials have not yet been able to contact him.
Fire officers found a smoke detector only in the basement of the home, he said.
“There was no evidence of smoke detectors on either the first or the second floor that may have alerted this family to the fire,” he said.
Firefighters received a call at 12:23am about the blaze at the single-family home in Midwood, a leafy section of Brooklyn known for its low crime and large Orthodox Jewish population.
Fire department spokesman Jim Long said more than 100 officers responded and brought the blaze under control about 1:30am.
Some Jews refrain from doing work on the Sabbath, including turning on lights or appliances.
As a result, some families might leave them on so they are usable without violating rules against doing work.
Neighbor Nate Weber told the New York Post that he saw children being wheeled away
on stretchers.
“I just turned away. I didn’t even want to look,” he said.
He told the New York Daily News he heard the mother yelling for someone to rescue her children after she jumped from a window.
“I heard a woman yelling:‘My kids are in there. Get them out! Get them out’!” the neighbor said.
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