A fire broke out Friday morning at about 9:30 am in the basement of Bais Rivkah School, at 310 Crown Street in Crown Heights.
The children were immediately evacuated to the other surrounding buildings on the property.
Parents were informed by phone call that all the building’s occupants are safe.
The fire, which started in a storage room in the basement, was discovered by a school maintenance worker who worked to contain it with a fire extinguisher until the fire department arrived.
The High School and Seminary girls were dismissed for the day, while the preschool students will be returning home on schedule.
School Administrator Benjy Stock told COLlive that the building has been declared safe, and all students may retrieve their belongings. School will resume on schedule Sunday morning, he said.
“officially” we barely have drill but elementary always has drills
in my school we have @ least 3x a year. as soon as the bell rings we go straight to the door and are outside in a matter of moments. cpe, elementary, high school, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BRM STUDENT
Are you telling me that an iPod that is off started the fire? That is CRAZY!!!
I was personally there as a staff member. The first floor was directed to leave the building which the students did in a relatively organized fashion. Despite the announcements, we continued t o leave the building and alert the students to the danger. The second floor followed immediately afterwards and we exited relatively quickly. It took the firemen a long time to come. How’s that? And to all you people out there, you don’t have to believe every eAagerated story you hear. To the students, this was all in a days FUN and they got to go home early so… Read more »
One of the workers had a iPod in te coat pocket and it was off and all te workers coats were burned up
Its a big miracle that tzvi was there because he stopped the fire from going to the gas lines and having school explode it was lit. A few feet from te gas lines the fire was not on the floor it was in the air
first of all the alarm starting ringing at 9:25. many classes were in session. it happened to be that my teacher wasnt here so my class didnt start but a lot of classes started. since my class did not start i was hanging out with some girls in the hallways when we heard the fire alarm. we saw with our own eyes that the head of my grade and a teacher looked at each other and said “oh i didnt plan that! it’s fake! EVERYONE BACK TO CLASS OR YOU’LL BE SUSPENDED.” try justifying that! there is no justification. IMAGINE… Read more »
What caused the fire – how did it start?????
WE DID NOT START CLASS YET. We had just come upstairs from davening. It was 9:19 in the morning, I looked at the clock because I didn’t want to be late to class and we only start class at 9:20. The students were not in class and the teachers were not teaching. WHO DO YOU EXPECT TO TAKE ATTENDANCE? THE WALLS? So for all you people that think the teachers did something wrong, I call it you are bored, and have absolutely nothing to say, fit into your own shoes first before you try to fit into others.
Based on many of the posts above it appears the teachers and possibly higher-ups need proper safety instruction. This is sadly not atypical in frum schools, years ago when I was teaching at the cheder in L.A. there was an earthquake and somebody came around insisting I had to take the girls out of the building, that is 100% wrong, in an earthquake they should stay inside and get under the tables.
My daughter was walking out of her classroom together with her class as she heard on the intercoms that is a false alarm and everyone should return to the classrooms. It was thanks to one of the teachers that was checking room to room that saw them and screamed to get out !! , which they did amidst the smoke. Thank God They didn’t suffer smoke inhalation. I would like to know who was the idiot who said to stay…
Stop being so dramatic, yes it was a fire, but people are adding to much weird info. I agree with #48. You hear what you want to hear. The truth is not “instresting enough.” It was a fire in the basement, it was not near the classrooms. I am a student, I was there, I saw everything.
Thank you so much Tzvi Fass!!!!!!
i have know clue what u are saying. MRS. LAINE IS THE AFTERNOON PRINCIPAL WHO DOES NOT COME ON FRIDAY. the only reason she should be thanked is that on sundays she would do fire drills with 9th grade to teach us how to use the fire escape which came in handy on friday. SHE WASNT THERE TO TELL ANYONE ANYTHING (i dont know where u got ur facts from) AND IN NO WAY WAS THERE TO PUT HER PERSONAL HARM IN DANGER. ya it is nice to give blessings (Hashem should bless her and her family) but she had… Read more »
1. We were NOT immediately evacuated. It was announced on the PA that everybody should STAY IN!!!!! Only after a few minutes (when the building was full of smoke) were we let out.
2. Parents were NOT informed.
She wasn’t even there. She had no involvement at all
i dont know what your saying we were told to stay in the building it’s flase. we were even threathened to be suspended if we left. suddenly the place filled with smoke and they made an announcement to exit the building. at that point it was too late to go by stairs and many girls had to go down my the creepy fire escape. i was very unimpressed by the fact that they first sent us to class and then checked to see if everything was okay. there was a lot of trauma because when they told us to leave… Read more »
A million thanx Tzvi!!!!!
The teacher who stupidly decided the class should stay in should be disciplined. AND she should take a proper fire safety course. In my school we had a small fire – every teacher grabbed her roll book and led our students to our designated place in the yard or street. No panic, no fuss, it was fine. And B”H it was also very minor.
As for the girls – you have silly, immature BRHS students behave like children & my 7th graders behaving responsibly & appropriately. What an embarrassment for BR.
Thank you tzvi for alway looking out in the schools best interest. May Hashem continue to bentch you with all the brachos.
Thank you Tzvi for saving the day!
She had the seichel to tell everyone to get out, she put herself at personal harm to get all the girls out. Hashem should bless her and her family.
The real hero of today’s fire is TZVI FASS……. As soon as we heard the fire drill, we first thought it was a false fire drill, since we did have a few of them in the past……..Tzvi and Benji went to the basement and Tzvi knew exactly what to do, he put out the fire with the fire extinguisher. B”H he was there at the right time. If C”V it was not put out it would have caused alot more damage, so three cheers for Tzvi and for Mrs. Laine for teaching the girls all the exits in case of… Read more »
My daughter is in BRHS, and the class heard the alarm and the teacher refused to let the class leave. My daughter then yelled out, “I can’t breathe” and the teacher told her to be quiet.
A few minutes later the principal came running to each classroom telling everyone to evacuate.
The teacher’s behavior is shameful and put everyone’s life at risk. And what about the after effects? My daughter’s lungs are hurting, will the school pay for the medical bills?
I don’t understand it! Every teacher knows that when there’s
a fire drill every single girl MUST evacuate! It’s mesirus nefesh!!!
The reason for those conflicting reports is because children tell their parents what they want to hear for the attention! If you are a very negative person that talks about the school negatively all the time, that’s what you will hear from your daughter , the negative side. If you are a positive person and always speak positively about the school you will hear the positive side , like “B”H everyone is safe! My daughter came home and said” B”H all are safe, but I was so embarrassed at the behavior of the girls, they made a big Chilul Hashem… Read more »
I am horrified that my daughter came home from the fire and said they all evacuated except for one class, which was told by their teacher not to leave. Finally when the smoke was coming into the room, the teacher let the class out. The girls came out of the building coughing and choking. I am appalled at the lack of serious attention one teacher gave. A teacher is supposed to support the fire drill and take it very seriously. 99 times out of 100 everything is fine; but the fire drill exists to teach everyone how to get out… Read more »
the main thing is that all the girls are safe and the teachers are safe that is the most important think thank you fire departments for making them safe
Just be thankful that nobody was hurt. I agree with #38. No name-calling or finger pointing needed. Baruch Hashem all the girls came out safe. But there is one person that really should be thanked. The janitor who was holding down the fire until the firemen came!
Honestly the entire ‘evacuation’ was chaos! Girls were running all over. Thank G-d it wasn’t a full blown fire or the story might’ve ended differently ח׳ו!
My class had already ran out of our classroom by the time our teacher stood up! Teachers need to be ready to take control and make sure things are orderly!
Number 5 & 30
I agree alarm rings out of building .. No questions asked … Once out of the building then investigate if one can return … better safe then sorry
This school cannot run an effective fire drill. How would anyone know that everyone is safe until firefighters risk their lives going into a burning building? Such an embarrassment.
Now that BR will be rich, will they give us tuition rebates?
Obviously school is out they dismissed us @ 945 and we should come back late to get our stuff
It was so unorganized was because class hadn’t started yet for most and the students were just wandering around waiting for the teachers to come…the fact that we still all managed on our own to get out in time was a miracle.
stop all the name-calling, and make sure to thank Hashem, and enjoy the cholent 😉
Based on the comments, Beis Rivka’s fire safety “procedures” are appalling, and are a danger to everyone in the school.
What kind of nonsense is a “fake fire drill”?? “Stay in the class because I wasn’t told about a fire drill”??
Are they waiting for someone to get killed ch”v before taking safety seriously??
No one took artendance toke sure everyone was safe!!!
Because there are a million high school girls commenting on Collive
So the whole class just walked out
So the whole class just walked out
Fire escape was so scary chaos my hair smells and my clothiers and my seforim too
Don’t the teachers have a responsibility to their students when a fire drill goes off? What is there to think about? Just get out of the building. There’s so many mixed messages in these posts, it’s hard to tell what the real deal is.The girls were NOT immediately evacuated!
Quoted: “One class had too walk through smoke.
Quote from a teacher “it’s fake stay inside” ”
it was extremely unsafe the teachers didn’t take attendance and Chas v’shalom someone could’ve got hurt
Most girls evacuated immediately when they heard the alarm. Only some classes were’nt sure whether they were supposed to, and evacuated a minute or two later when it was confirmed that it’s real. Stop making our school sound so irresponsible when most of it is exagerated or not true!
add to the title BH they are all safe
someone should invent an alarm that only goes off if its real,its so normal to hear alarms and we all are imune to them!!!
If ure daughter thought it was real she should’ve left the building like everyone else. ull never know wen a fire is real but u might as well b safe than sorry.
And she wasn’t even there 😉
We were in class when we heard the alarm. Everyone was leaving when a teacher announced to stay in the class because it’s a fake fire alarm. Suddenly the whole school was full of smoke and it was hard to breath . Then someone announced that everyone go outside. Thanks god now everyone is ok
IT WAS AWESOME
sadly, she wasnt there
So glad everyone is safe!!!
Well, at least Mrs. Laine FINALLY had use for the constant fire drill practice. I bet she was in her element!
these pictures r from when it was over n it was safe to go inside.
a girl asked the GO if it was a planned purim prank!!!
I was there. Isnt true. We were told to stay
IT WAS REALLY SCARY
It’s after they were told to get their things
what your saying is so untrue. Everyone was told to go out of the building and only when it was safe to go in they let
got to leave early and my stuff smell of smoke
Sorry, no calls were made!
to the amazing firefighters that came so fast and saved us all.
i thought that as soon as you hear thet there’s a fire you are supposed to leave everything and go????
The girls were NOT immediately evacuated!
One class had too walk through smoke.
Quote from a teacher “it’s fake stay inside” why do people take chances when it comes to fire?!?!
the firemen and trucks came they were greeted by 515 girls cheering whahoooo and clapping taking selfies with the firetruck
MY DOUGHTER WAS TOLD TO STAY INSIDE!?!?
Then finally they said it’s real and the whole class had to walk through smoke! What is wrong with teachers? If the fire alarm goes off you get out and then see if it’s safe to go inside.
Very smoky on top floor and every where else.
We’re still here! Not dismissed
we wanted a pic w/ firetruck and firemen 4yrbook but….noone had their phones….
We love Bais Rivkah!! 😉