Fire Destroys Apartment on Pesach

By COLlive reporter

An elderly woman was left with nothing after a fast-moving fire engulfed her apartment in Crown Heights on Yom Tov.

The woman had left her apartment at 1650 President Street at about 8:00 PM on Motzei Shabbos to attend the Yom Tov meal. She returned to her apartment to retrieve something, only to discover the apartment was engulfed in flames.

She quickly alerted the building’s other residents, shouting fire and raising the alarm.

“It was a terribly frightening and chaotic scene, since many of the fathers were in Shul davening Maariv at the time, and there were families with children trying to get out of the building,” a neighbor told COLlive.

Residents evacuated via the fire escapes, while some were forced to go up to the roof, who were later assisted by the fire department.

Firefighters soon put out the fire, leaving the woman’s apartment completely destroyed.

The apartment above hers, which is empty, also sustained damage, however, most of the residents were able to return home that evening.