Midwood, NY – Investigators with the New York City Fire Department say an electric griddle is to blame for last week’s deadly three-alarm fire in Brooklyn. They say the griddle was left on, igniting a wooden counter in the kitchen at a home on Avenue P in Midwood Wednesday night.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Avigdor Krasny, 8, was trapped by the flames and pronounced dead at the hospital.
Three other boys and two girls were pulled from the fire and taken to the hospital.
Four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
What can one say? Such a tragedy.
Everyone, please, please fit smoke detectors by kitchens. It only takes a few seconds to check them every week or so.
Terrible. This happened to my family 50 years ago. We had such a griddle for Pesach and it was on a wood counter. The counter started smoking and we smelled it. BH nothing happened except the counter was ruined. I hope at least that people will now be aware of the danger of these shabbos blechs. All you need to do is put something under it.
Frum Yidden need to start using Shabbos Clocks to turn these appliances on and off. Having these run for 72+ hours non stop during 3 day Yom Tovim is asking for trouble. Everyone also needs to have working smoke alarms, ABC fire extinguishers and rope ladders for easy escape from a third floor window.
It’s time we started using common sense when applying shabbos halacha. It is dangerous to leave a hot plate on for 72 hours, therefore either chose another option, or turn it off, even on shabbos.
Was this electric griddle left on for three days? Should we all be using timers on our croc pots and hot plates so these electric appliances shut off soon after the time the food is expected to be served?
How sad. What kind of hotplate was it? One of the tin ones with no dial; a North American type such as Presto with a dial? What is wrong with our Rabonnim-Why can’t they guide people?
Yes, people should have alarms in their homes; yes they should know that three days of electric wires may overheat; and yes: Who on earth places electricity appliances on wood? THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES—-
is a blech on the stove more safe?
To numbers 10 and 11, even in this particular case it didn’t take 72 hours for the hot plate to cause a fire. The FACT still remains that such practices are DANGEREOUS, despite your ilks denials.
Using a “Shabbos Hot Plate” that was turned on on Shabbos or Yom Tov may be a halachic problem. Therefore, a time clock might not be the answer.
I put my Shabbos hot plate on top of my regular stove top (which is obviously not being used).
May the family have a nechama and not experience any more suffering.
perhaps we should contact our local fire departments to give workshops on fire safety. they could be given in our shules and schools.
someone should give tehm a heads up on what sort of info we are looking to hear about so that they will come prepared with relevant information for shomer shabbos people.
it doest matter what type on hot plate it was, what should be said is, no matter what typer ypu use, put silver foil on the counter and then the hot plate. i once even saw someone put the blach on the [turned off] stove top, and on to of that the hot plate.
To number 17, the first thing the Irish firemen would tell the Yidden is that you don’t keep hot plates on for 1 day, let alone 3.
Maybe, just maybe the various Kashruth agencies should place articles in their high gloss magazines about fire prevention during the Yom Tovim. That would do more good and save more lives than yet another boring article of how the mashgichim have to spend another lonely night in a foreign hotel.
What are people haking a cheinik this happened the first night not after 72 Hours
Unfortunately in our day and age of chumras, and chumras on top of chumras, people stop using common sense and do whatever it takes to just keep up with the latest fashionable chumra and made up halocha. Nobody wants to be looked at, and be the talk of town. Common sense has almost become a thing of the past.
Having said that, the rabonim should use common sense and issue Kol Korehs involving safety and pekuach nefesh. What good are chumras if your not alive to follow them.
#16 ,
And the death of Jewish children is not a halachic problem?
I don’t like hot plates for shabbos use. They get hotter than yad soledes bah and should not be used for Shabbos use. I don’t know why various Rabbis allow their use for Shabbos. Obviously this tragedy was about a malfunctioning hot plate. The kdeira blech does not get as hot and I believe they can be used Shabbos.
I have seen more than once, the israeli hot plates leaving burn marks underneath them on counters. They do not have proper temperature controls nor are they “UL” listed. this typically means they weren’t safety tested. Also in Israel, most counter tops there are made of stone material and therefore are non-combustible so it doesn’t pose the same hazard
perhaps the same innovative companies who accommodated teh sabbath observing jews with an override for their ovens and a sabbath mode on their refrigerators could invent some kind of warmer that has available settings for multiple on and off times.
just a thought…..
NUMBER 2 Not a smoke detector but a heat detector; Why, because a smoke detector will go off every few minutes such as burnt toast, burnt pot and gradually you will take out the battery. A heat detector detect heat and when it because hot it goes off. You need smoke detectors on every landing. Was there smoke detectors in this apartment? Everybody who is writing and reading here make sure today not tomorrow you have working smoke detects and in the kitchen and near the boiler a heat detector. If possible by radio control ones that interlink to each other so if the heat detector goes off it sets the rest off. Seconds count in a fire. Remember seconds not minutes
Bet the hot plate was made in China.
carbon dioxide detectors should be installed as well
What about the report that there was 3 different families living in the house , plus a shul, with mattresses on the floor everywhere
Fire safety is no joke. This kind of idiocy gets people killed. And killing Jews is a lot more of a sin than turning off an electrical appliance, especially when you know it’s not supposed to be used that way.
Reply to # 4..You are right that you need shabbos clocks…I bought a few after my grand daughter got a slight burn from the crock pot after it was emptied…Now it turns off at 1 pm ..We need hashem to watch us every second but precaution helps(Venishmartme meoyd lenafshoyseichem)…I think maybe we should have a volunteer service who should knock on every person in the block and check if their smoke detectors are working fine and also for carbon monoxide detetectors are installed…We can call them Matzilei Aish Volunteers like the fire dept. in KJ
Number 35 you are right but you forget to included heat detectors. Smoke detectors in the kitchen are a nusances and the people will pull the battery. Also if it is at all possible get it hard wired into the main electric network in the house.; but it is more important to at least have it and have it working. Try to get wireless interlink so when 1 alarm goes off the whole house goes off to warn the people ALSO REMOVE CHANGE BATTERIES TWICE A YEAR.. THE SYSTEM IS WHEN YOU CHANGE THE CLOCKS BACKWARD AND FORWARD YOU CHANGE THE BATTERIES.
Now that the clocks go back later and a head sooner it isn’t such a good idea.
YOU CAN USE SUCCOS AND PESACH., Before each Yontif change the batteries.
I anyone drives by the house you will see the remains of the FULL LENGTH gates that covered the front window/porch. I will never forget the sound of the fireman’s buzz saw or the sparks that flew that night as I stood on the corner of East 12th and Ave P while the fire dept tried to cut through the gates that blocked them from this precious child.
I beg you all – child safety gates that cover 1/2 a window and can prevent falls is one thing, but full length gates is really a problem. Think of your family’s well being before you think of your monetary well being. As I have told my husband many times, if a theif wants to repel down from the roof to the 3rd floor window he can have whatever he wants. The safety of my 3 precious daughters is more important than any posession I may own.
Poster/s # 16 & 18 (Aron 1 & NPC) You have the right idea. That is how it’s done in my house. The Hot Plate is put on top of the Shabbos Blech, on the cold stove. Poster # 16. The timer in my house is used (on Shabbos) to shut the hotplate OFF, ONLY!
First of all you don’t need a smoke detector in the kitchen or bath area. If you want one there put it at least 20 feet away. Within 20 feet you can use a fire detector (which I don’t recommend -due to cost) or a photoelectric smoke detector, instead of the ionizing type. You can have full gates on the windows for security, as long as it can be easily opened by an older child or adult from the inside. Everyone must learn fire safety -there is a lot more than detectors, extinguishers and rope ladders. I personally don’t recommend rope ladders, just the metal kind.
Poster # 32 (Mewhoze); It’s Carbon Monoxide Detectors. Carbon Dioxide is good for a fire (Except to breathe it in.) It takes away the oxygen, thus extinguishing the fire.
41 How much do you value life over the cost of a heat detector. A life is not worth between $26.00 and $50.00????? Think again
I would like to add to what # 4 said…ABC rated fire extinguishers are something that should be in every room of every home or apartment.
A = trash, wood, paper fires
B = Liquids, grease
C = electrical equipment
ABC = combined fire fighting effectiveness. READ THE INTRUCTIONS!
A grease fire cannot be contained with water, which may actually spread the fire. A grease fire needs to be smothered which is what the proper fire extinguisher will do.
Aside from having an escape ladder for the upper floors there needs to be a family plan for escape from the burning home or apartment. Flames kill.. but smoke usaully does more harm. In a real fire situation thick black smoke blocks your way.
Every school/yeshiva and shul should invite a fire safety officer from the local fire department to visit regularly and lecture about fire safety and escape measures. I beg everyone to tell their children to pay attention to what they have to say…encourage them to ask questions. The same applies to any adult.
To the editors of VIN ( I know you dont want links to external sites) but please post this site and encourage readers to Google “grease fires” and “grease fire videos”. If just one life is saved by becoming more informed about fire and what it can do and how to deal with it.. then the posting with be worth it and hopefully we will never have to read stories such as this again.
Thank you!
http://www.fire-extinguisher101.com/
43 -Anonymous – I said it’s not needed in the kitchen, of course you must have them elsewhere. In the kitchen you can use photoelectric detectors which are cheaper than fire detectors!