This is definitely sad…and I know that if I was a resident of the building I would be HEATED (no pun intended). Fire officials announced today that the cause of the fatal fire that broke out inside a Brooklyn apartment last weekend was sparked by a voodoo ceremony involving candles. Read more details after the jump…
(PIX)–According to FDNY Fire Marshals, an open door and delays in calling police helped the blaze escalate to a full blown five-alarm fire.
The blaze unraveled on the evening of Feb. 20 inside a fourth floor apartment at E. 29th St. in Flatbush, officials said. A Brooklyn woman who did not live in the building paid $300 to a voodoo priest to perform a ritual aimed at bringing her good luck.
As part of the ceremony, candles were arranged on the floor around a bed where the ritual took place. According to published reports, the couple began having sex. It wasn’t clear if this was part of the ceremony.
At some point, the candles were knocked over and ignited linens and the disrobed couple’s clothes.
Instead of calling 911, the man attempted to extinguish the blaze by using water from a bathroom sink but it soon proved to be useless. As smoke began to gather in the apartment, officials said someone opened a window and propped open the door to the public hall which resulted in wind gusts of up to 40 mph to shoot back inside the hallway.
The couple then fled the apartment, leaving the door open.
Minutes later, the fire engulfed the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the building and caused the roof and fourth floor to collapse. A elderly woman who lived on the sixth floor was killed in the fire while three others were injured. It took nearly seven hours for firefighters to contain the blaze that left dozens homeless.
“Time and time again we respond to tragedies that could have been so easily prevented,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano said in a statement Friday. “This fire had so many of those elements – candles left on the floor near combustible material, one of the occupants trying to douse the flames before calling 911 and an open door, which allowed fire to spread into the hallway. Hopefully others will learn from this tragedy.”
The investigation into the fire is still ongoing. No arrests have been made.
