New York house fire kills 7 children
NEW YORK — A fire that started after a hot plate was left unattended tore through a Brooklyn home early Saturday and killed seven children sleeping in their bedrooms, officials said. The children’s mother and one of their sisters survived and were hospitalized in critical condition.
The city’s fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, said it took firefighters three minutes to arrive at the scene after a 911 call came in about 12:30 a.m. By then, the twostory house was enveloped in flames.
“Seven children lost their lives this morning,” Nigro said. “It’s a tragedy for this family. It’s a tragedy for this community. It’s a tragedy for our city.”
A 45-year-old woman identified as the children’s mother had escaped along with a 15-year-old daughter, but Nigro said firefighters had to fight their way through smoke and flames to reach the upstairs bedrooms. There, in the back of the home, they found four boys, ages 5, 8, 10 and 12, all dead. Three girls, ages 6, 11 and 16, also died.
Firefighters hurled burning furniture, clothing and other items out the secondstory windows onto the snow-covered street as they searched the upper floor for other possible victims and sought to bring the flames and smoke under control.
All of the children were siblings who lived in the home with their mother, Gayle Sassoon, according to Nigro. Officials identified the dead Saturday afternoon as Eliane, 16; David, 12; Rivkah, 11; Yeshua, 10; Moshe, 8; Sara, 6; and Yaakob, 5.
The father was believed to have been away on a business trip.
Nigro said the mother and surviving child escaped by leaping out a window from the top floor.
“This is an unbelievable tragedy,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said as he visited the scene.
Nigro said it was the city’s worst loss of life from a fire since a blaze killed 10 people, including nine children, in the Bronx in 2007.
According to fire officials, there was “no evidence” of smoke detectors on either floor of the house. Nigro said it appeared a hot plate was left on in the kitchen, which sparked the blaze.
The neighborhood is home to many Orthodox Jewish families whose observance of the Sabbath prohibits them from turning on their stoves from Friday evening until Saturday night. Some leave a hot plate on before sundown Friday so they can warm up food until the Sabbath ends.