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Staff writer Mary Voboril contributed to this story.
Grief gripped Williamsburg yesterday after three boys were killed in a morning apartment fire that officials said was sparked by a gas stove left lit the entire weekend for Passover.
The victims - Shiya Matyash, 16, his brother, Yidel, 13, and their nephew, Israel Falcowitz, 7, also called Shlomo - were asleep and never had a chance. The three were overcome by heavy smoke that filled the second-floor apartment and turned back a neighbor who valiantly tried to save them.
The brothers' parents - Symah Matyash, a well-known local caterer, and his wife, Rachel - were trapped at the apartment's far end and screamed for help. They were rescued by firefighters on a ladder.
Two of their daughters were trapped in another bedroom, but they broke a window and leapt over the jagged glass to the ground below, suffering broken limbs but surviving.
By late yesterday, Israel already had been buried, and the funerals of the two brothers were being held late last night.
"There are no words to describe," said Isaac Abraham, a community representative. "Children usually bury parents. Parents don't bury children."
Fire officials said the 5:50 a.m. blaze was caused by four stove burners that, in accordance with Jewish law prohibiting certain types of work on the Sabbath and religious holidays, apparently had been turned on from the beginning of the Sabbath on Friday and had been left burning since.
The stove was located just inside the front door. Fire officials said the stove's wood backing, which was covered in aluminum foil, acted as a conduit.
Fire officials stressed that firefighters arrived quickly, with a recently closed firehouse not causing any delays, despite allegations to the contrary from some in the community.
At the scene, the Bedford Gardens apartment complex, mourners gathered, some cleansing the ground of blood left behind as members of Hatzollah, the volunteer ambulance service, were tending to the boys.
"It's a terrible thing to happen on a holiday," said neighbor Mendy Rothschild, 30. "A terrible thing."
Rothschild, like scores of others inside the apartment complex, was awakened by piercing screams for help.
He looked out of his window, saw Rachel Matyash screaming in Yiddish for help, and sprang into action. He called 911, ran from his building and kicked down the door to the Matyashes' apartment at 104 Ross St.
"I got on my hands and knees and crawled in the doorway two or three feet," he said. "You couldn't see anything. You couldn't see where to go."
Rothschild was forced to flee the thick, black smoke.
Other residents, meanwhile, at the urging of Rachel Matyash, were flinging rocks in an effort to break the windows.
At the same time, they were telling the frantic mother that there was no response from the bedroom where the three boys were sleeping.
When firefighters from Ladder Company 119 arrived, some ran into the building. Others entered the courtyard, though they were slowed a few seconds because they had to clip a lock.
By then, the sisters, Gitty, 21, and Sauri, 18, had broken their window and jumped 15 feet to the ground below.
The three boys all died from smoke inhalation, the medical examiner said.
Israel had stayed at the Matyash home for Passover, while his parents stayed at his paternal grandparents' home nearby.
Shiya, friends said, was an avid keyboard player who recently returned from London, where he was in a religious education program. Yidel recently celebrated his bar mitzvah.
Building residents said firefighters took 15 minutes to arrive and were slowed by the closing of Engine Company 212, which the city shut in 2003.
But a Fire Department spokesman, firefighter Paul Iannizzotto, said there was no delay. The first call for help came in at 5:52:02, he said.
Ladder 102 arrived at the scene in less than four minutes, checking in at 5:55:03.
By then, Iannizzotto noted, two other engine companies and one other ladder company were already there, with the firefighters already racing to the building, but not calling in their arrival to dispatchers because of the situation's urgency.
Three firefighters were treated for injuries at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Israel was buried in New Jersey after an emotional goodbye in front of the Keap Street building where his mother had been staying.
Orthodox Jews are not allowed to observe the weeklong period of mourning during Passover, and Israel's mother, Nichy, stood stoically as a group of men loaded her son, in a pine basket, into a minivan.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc |
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