Brooklyn, NY – Just over 12 hours after neighbors reported a raging fire at the Azan home to the FDNY, fire marshals have confirmed on the FDNY twitter page that the fatal blaze that took the lives of four family members was caused by an unattended menorah.
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According to the FDNY, working smoke detectors were present in the home at the time that the three alarm fire occurred, as previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2AVynQ2).
Neighbors confirmed to The Daily News (http://nydn.us/2AVbwny) that the family lit a large oil menorah in the street-facing living room window on Chanukah.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams observed a moment of silence just after 5 PM tonight in memory of Aliza Azan and her three children, ages eleven, seven and three, as he lights the menorah tonight at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
Adams will also be repeating a call he made nearly three years ago after the death of the Sassoon children in a Friday night fire for the creation of a Brooklyn based burn unit.
City Councilman Chaim Deutsch called on city residents of all religions to make sure never to leave holiday directions or candles unattended, whether they are electrical or live flames.
“Before you go to sleep each night be sure that tree lights are unplugged and candles are extinguished,” said Deutsch, who also stressed the importance of having a fire safety plan and having working smoke detectors on every level of every residence.
State Senator Simcha Felder announced a joint plan with the Red Cross and the Boro Park Jewish Community Council this afternoon that will install free smoke detectors in the homes of area residents.
“Reminding people during Chanukah about the inherent dangers of open flames and arming them with the vital knowledge necessary to prevent fires is the first step, but detecting a fire early to ensure everyone gets out safely is of vital importance,” said Felder.
The funeral for Aliza Azan and her children Moshe, Yitzchak and Hanriet will take place at 7 PM tonight at Congregation Shevet Achim, 708 Avenue T, with burial to take place in Israel.
i read in yesterdays news about 2 fires in Manchester,UK from chanukah menorahs and the local fire dept. went around to loads of homes making sure that smoke detectors are working and if they didnt have one they installed one.
we understand that NYFD dosent have the man power do go from home to home inspecting maybe its time to open a volunteer community of yingeleit and women who would do it as a chesed . i would call it Aish Rescue…
Perhaps all the self righteous amongst us who jumped to conclusions blaming the lack of smoke detectors can get off their smug perch and ask mechila. Unless they found another way to assign blame
It is a shame the smoke detector campaign is too late to help this family.
Every lecture and talk about Emunah after the last tragedy should have started and ended with a call from every Rav and Rosh Yeshiva to be sure to install working smoke detectors in every level of every home.
For all,those with no Emunah, who screamed that lack of smoke detectors were the cause of the Sassoon fire, here you have it. Fire detectors were working and yet unfortunately Hashem decreed that this must happen same way….now what?! You still put all your hopes into the detector, and not the One who causes every action?
I am not trained in material sciences pertaining to plastics. i often wonder if the prefilled oil cups made of plastic are safe?
There were smoke detectors and the Fire Dept. came within minutes from just 3 blocks away, but it seems the fire spread too quickly to save the mother and chjildrern
Those homes have an open floor plan making it easy for a fire to spread quickly upstairs to the bedrooms. A sprinkler system has to be put into effect for all residential buildings that aren’t fireproof.
its a pity what happened to the familly. the survirls are in critical condition in si hospitals burn unit.
i saw the video of it hapening.what’s upsetting to me is why it took so long for the fdny to whip out a fire hose and start drenching the thing. they were mostly swarming around the house practically waiting for it to burn down.
Terribly tragic…. let’s learn that we cannot go to sleep without being sure that all live candles are out. That includes Shabbos and Yom Tov as well. Tears …
Ohy! Rachmunei litzlan! Such a terrible tragedy for klal Yisroel! RBSO have rachmunis on us!
Why the comments about smoke detectors ? FDNY. stated there were working detectors in this home ! You’re all missing the point! This is not about smoke detectors ! Wake up !!
honestly, can anyone explain how the menorah lit the house , assuming it was at the front of the house if it was near curtains it would lite up in minutes after the hadlakah, if it tipped oil menoras for the most part extinguish on falling my kids were nervous yesterday so i did 2 experiments – i lay a lit candle flat on an old wood desk thats going to the garbage and lit it , it took 14 minutes till the desk charred a bit i am curious to hear from fdny how they got to that conclusion
No one said that the smoke detectors failed to work. The only thing is that NYFD recommends smoke detectors because they fight fires and are trained in fire prevention. So if they recommend it and so does DOB require them then this goes into Venishmartem es Nafshoysychem…of course we cant control hashems ways as we say Rosh Hashona..Me BaEish ME BaMayim, its all written in Shumaim but we still have to prevent the best way we can.
Tragic, horrible. Condolences to family.
It’s a shame that Jews, ‘Am Nauvon VeChochom’ cannot run their
lives properly, have to be led, by the hand, by non-Jews.
boruch hoffinger