Tragedy may teach a lesson

After Shabbos ended on March 21, Rabbi Heshy Blumstein, the spiritual leader of Young Israel of Hewlett, and his family began preparing their home for Passover. He covered the stove’s burners with a thick sheet of tin.
“I didn’t open the windows and the carbon monoxide sensor went on. I was in fear for my family,” Blumstein said of a household that ranges in age from 2 to nearly 90. The Woodmere Fire Department responded, the rabbi said, and all was well afterward. Carbon monoxide is a potentially fatal poisonous gas.
Blumstein was one of several speakers at a press conference last Friday at the Woodmere firehouse, which focused on household safety in the wake of the home fire in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on March 20 that killed seven children and left their mother and their sole surviving sibling seriously injured. A warming plate used to keep food hot during Shabbos malfunctioned, according to city fire officials. There were no working smoke detectors found on the first or second floor of the house.
Civic leaders throughout the Five Towns have begun a campaign to increase awareness of the vital importance of having functioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in homes.
Achiezer, established in 2009 as a community resource organization by Rabbi Boruch Bender, collaborates with other groups and individuals to provide financial and emotional support to those in need. It partnered with the Woodmere department to host a free, two-hour fire safety clinic at Achiezer’s Lawrence office last Sunday. More than 100 free smoke detectors were available for people who needed them, and Woodmere firefighters handed out fire safety information.

“It’s a tragedy that is supposed to leave us with a lasting effect,” Bender said of the Brooklyn fire. “Learn what you should and shouldn’t do [in an emergency].”
According to the National Fire Protection Association, more than 85 percent of the 1.24 million fires reported in the U.S. in 2013 occurred in residences, Michael Uttaro, an assistant fire chief with the Nassau County fire marshal’s office, told the attendees. “Fire safety is paramount,” he said. “Smoke detectors save lives.”
Detectors should be installed inside and outside every bedroom and on every level of a home. Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed outside each sleeping area, and also on every floor.
Uttaro cautioned listeners not to fight fires, but instead to call their fire department. But having a fire extinguisher is encouraged, he added, along with taking the “utmost care” when cooking.
The Village of Cedarhurst, in collaboration with Home Depot, will provide hundreds of free, state-of-the-art, battery-operated smoke detectors to residents. The devices were expected to arrive at Village Hall on Friday. When they arrive, notice will be posted on Cedarhurst’s website, www.cedarhurst.gov.
“Some residents may be reluctant to buy them, so we want to make sure they have a place where they have access to pick up a free one,” said Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock. “Better to get one for free and save a life than not at all.”
For more on home and fire safety, go to www.nfpa.org.

Have an opinion about home safety? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.