Volume 67, Issue 8

Local Fire Leaves One Dead and Several Injured
by Michael Hoffman

In a local tragedy, a fire broke out on 186th Street and Audubon Avenue on Saturday night, January 18, leaving one woman dead and many others injured.

The fire started on the ground level of the three-story apartment building, but slowly rose until nearly the entire complex was ablaze. The smoke emitted was so heavy that it forced the woman, who lived on the top floor, to leap from her bathroom window. Several other tenants of the building were injured before the Fire Department managed to contain the fire.

“It was a really terrible thing, said Don Summers, Yeshiva’s Chief of Security.  “It took a very long time for that fire to get put out.”

No Yeshiva students were directly harmed by the incident, though the fire was in such close proximity to campus that it was visible from the back of the library.

“The smoke was everywhere,”said Yeshiva College junior Elad Cnaan.  “It seemed to be engulfing the building.”

Many others who could not see the fire were alarmed by the sounds of fire trucks barreling down Amsterdam Avenue.

“It was around midnight that Saturday night, and I was trying to fall asleep when I was startled by the fire truck alarms,” recalled Sy Syms School of Business freshman Fred Schottenstein, who lives in Muss Hall.  “It made me really nervous. I was jumpy the rest of the night.” ♦

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