Brooklyn fire that killed mother, 3 kids may have been started by menorah
Bodies of victims reportedly to be flown to Israel for burial; father, 2 other children remain in critical condition
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The blaze that killed a mother and three children in a Brooklyn house fire overnight Sunday may have been sparked by a Hanukkah menorah.
Five other family members were injured in the early Monday blaze, including the father, three other children and a cousin. The father and two children are in critical condition, according to The New York Times.
Flames began blazing through the house in the Sheepshead Bay section at about 2 a.m. Monday, the New York City fire commissioner told reporters. It quickly spread to the home’s second and third floors.
Police are investigating whether the blaze was started by an oil-fed menorah used for the holiday, according to local media reports.
Sunday night marked the sixth night of the eight-day long Hanukkah festival during which Jews light an eight-branched candelabrum. Fires started by the naked flames are not uncommon.
Media reports named the dead as Aliza, 39, Moshe, 11 Yitzchak, 7 and Henrietta 3.
Their bodies, which reportedly are to be flown to Israel for burial, were found on the second floor of the building.
FLATBUSH: FDNY: Smoke detector was working in tragic fire. Father Yossi Azan ran back inside to save his kids, he remains in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/9IG2XkWKec
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) December 18, 2017
The father, Yosef, 45, two teenage children — Shilat, 16 and Daniel, 15 — and a cousin who was staying at the house at the time managed to escape the blaze with serious injuries.
Yeshiva World said that they had been taken to the Staten Island Burn Unit where they were on respirators.
Several firefighters were also hurt in the blaze.
Eyewitness told the New York Post that they saw people jumping from windows as the massive blaze spread through the three-story house.
Tragedy in Flatbush …… A Facebook photo posted By their father Yossi in 2015 , shows the Azan Family on their way to…
Posted by Yechiel Goldberg on Monday, December 18, 2017
The Hebrew-language ultra-Orthodox website BeHadrei Hadarim reported Monday that 13-year-old Avraham was the only family member to sustain light injuries and that he had already been released from hospital.
Aliza, known locally as Luza, was the daughter of Rabbi Albert Hamra, a leader of the Syrian community in Israel, according to the New York Post.
Yosef sells hats at the Hat Box on Coney Island Avenue in Flatbush.
A number of Hebrew media reports said members of the family were Israeli nationals, but the Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of any of them being Israeli citizens.
In March 2015, three girls and four boys ages 5 to 16 from the Sassoon family died and their mother and another child were critically injured when a fire sparked by a malfunctioning Sabbath hotplate engulfed their home in Flatbush.
The Azans and Sassoons knew each other, according to Yeshiva World news, some of their children having studied together at the Ateret Torah Yeshiva.
The Times of Israel Community.