Police investigating fatal Rensselaer fire
RENSSELAER, N.Y. » Two adults and a child perished and two other youths remain hospitalized, one in critical condition, following an early Sunday morning fire that ravaged a single-family home at 900 Mann Ave. in Rensselaer.
Police said Safia Alblakhi, 68, Monzalah Alshami, 41, and Aymen Alshami, 8, died as a result of the fire.
Neighbors say the occupants are originally from Egypt and have lived in the quiet neighborhood, off Washington Street just north of I-90, for about five years.
The blaze was the second tragedy to shake the city this weekend as Brianna L. Beebe, 26, the mother of two children, was found deceased in the Hudson River on Saturday, one day after being reported missing.
“It’s been a tough weekend in the community here,” said Detective Scott Earing, of Rensselaer city police department. “
Earing said grief counselors will be at Van Rensselaer Elementary School on Monday to help pupils deal with the loss of a fellow student, a young boy, who died in the fire.
One of Beebe’s children also attends the school.
It’s believed the fire victims’ family is comprised of a husband and wife, their three children, and a grandmother. The two women and youngest boy died.
The boy’s older brother is at Albany Medical Center Hospital with non-lifethreatening injuries, while an older sister was flown to Syracuse in critical condition.
The father, who was working at the time, was not home when the fire occurred.
City of Rensselaer Fire Department was called to the scene at about 4:42 a.m. and found a fully-involved structure fire.
“I looked out my back window. I didn’t see the flames. I saw the glow and the smoke,” said Alex Cook, who lives just up the street. “At that point I threw my clothes on and ran down to see if I could do anything. They (firefighters) had known from a neighbor to focus on one of the rooms in the house because that’s where they thought everybody was. They knocked down the flames, broke the window and got right in. The fire was raging above them and they were downstairs.
“They wanted to get in as quickly as possible and get these people out,” Cook said. “It took maybe 10 to 15 minutes before they got the first one out, and maybe another 15 to 20 minutes when they got the others out.”
Cook described the two brothers, whom he would see playing basketball outside in their driveway, as “good kids.”
“They came to my house last fall and wanted to rake leaves,” he said.
“I knew one of the boys,” said nearby resident Steve Onati. “He told me where they came from, Egypt.”
Officials are unsure what started the blaze, which remains under investigation by the Rensselaer Fire Police Cause and Origin team working with New York State Fire Investigators. Both floors of the house were entirely gutted.
Earing said the fire was so intense that it took firefighters about 90 minutes to get it under control. No firefighters were injured. Several area companies provided mutual aid backup, he said.
In the Beebe case, Rensselaer police assisted by a state police aviation unit, found her body in the river at about 9 a.m. Saturday. She was last seen at her First Street residence at about 9:30 p.m. Friday. She left the residence at an unknown time, under unknown circumstances, leaving behind her vehicle, keys, cell phone, coat, and other personal items.
When Beebe was first reported missing, police said she might have been a danger to herself.
No cause of death has been determined pending an autopsy at Albany Medical Center. A Rensselaer police investigation is ongoing, assisted by the New York State Police-Schodack Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Troop G Major Crimes units.
“Foul play is not suspected,” Earing said.