Spare a thought for those seven children in Brooklyn who died in that

[malaise]

horrific fire overnight. Their mother and one of their siblings are in critical conditions after jumping from a second floor window. Imagine the poor father who was not there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/nyregion/7-children-die-in-brooklyn-fire.html?_r=0
<snip>
A hot plate warmed food in the darkened kitchen in Brooklyn, allowing an Orthodox Jewish mother to feed her family while observing the Sabbath prohibition on lighting a flame. Upstairs, she and eight children slept.

That small convenience led to the city’s deadliest fire in eight years, after flames that began in the kitchen ripped through the home, trapping seven children ages 5 to 16 in their bedrooms, as their mother and a 15-year-old sister, cloaked in thick smoke, jumped out of second-floor windows. They were the only two survivors.

The authorities attributed the fire to an unknown malfunction in the electric hot plate. Such devices are often used by observant Jewish families, who turn them on to heat food before the Sabbath begins Friday night and keep them going through the following day.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage

Lt. Bruce Silas, left, and Lt. John Errico with fire-safety information in Midwood, Brooklyn.
Deadly Fire Underscores a Potential Conflict Between Religion and Public SafetyMARCH 21, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday and walked inside the shell of the house with firefighters. “You can literally see what was a home for a large, strong family and now it’s wiped out, every room empty, burned and charred,” he said, adding: “This is a tragedy that has very few examples to look at, it’s so painful, it’s so difficult.”

[roody]

1. May people be spared the nonsense of stupid religion.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

2. Very classy n/t

[JI7]

3. but the use of the hot plate itself is not religious, it's used as it was supposed to be used for

it could have been a family getting work done in the kitchen so needed to use the hot plate until then.


very horrible thing, there have been a few times something like this has happened. things can just be so unfair to some.

[sunnystarr]

4. the use of the hot plate most certainly is religious ...

because ...

Such devices are often used by observant Jewish families, who turn them on to heat food before the Sabbath begins Friday night and keep them going through the following day.

If it wasn't for the demands of the religion on what their followers could and couldn't do this tragedy wouldn't have happened and those 7 angels would still be alive.

[JI7]

6. no, the hot plate is not only used for religious purposes, it's not sold just for that , more people

use it without it having to do anything with religion.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

11. No, but the way this particular one was used was definitely a religious cheat.

They get around the prohibition on lighting a flame by plugging in the hot plate on Friday night, and leaving it running all day Saturday. This fire is 100% attributable to religious observance.

[ND-Dem]

14. What I question is keeping a hot plate turned on all day. Not its standard use, and I doubt

the average hot plate is engineered for continual use.

And I know hot plates. I used to live in a one room apt, and that was my kitchen. I didn't run it 24-7, though in the winter I would have liked to. The place was a shithole.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. I did not realize that hot plates were used this way.

May this horrible tragedy make families rethink this. Crockpots, sure but hot plates? I've had hot plates and wouldn't trust them for an hour alone, never left on all night but then I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of old wiring resulting in house fires. May be time to find some shabbas goyim.

Those poor children.

[malaise]

19. Neither did I

Still this was a horrific fire

[kath]

7. What a stupid frickin' waste of life, all due to the the belief in a sky-daddy.

[Hekate]

8. Malaise, I send a prayer outwards for them, and ponder the sheer mean spiritedness....

.....of some of our fellow DUers who imagine they are so fucking enlightened.

[malaise]

20. +1,000

As if the poor children had a say - sometimes I am afraid of my fellow human beings.

[Fumesucker]

9. I read here the other day that grief can literally kill you..

It might be a mercy sometimes.

[LiberalAndProud]

10. Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers -- I'm a firm believer.

The religious aspect is only an unfortunate sidebar, imo.

eta: I'm curious about the brand name and approximate age of that hot plate, because that's some really bad juju goin' on right there.

[Marrah_G]

12. omg- that is so sad

I can't imagine having to deal with something that horrific.

[Hekate]

13. I have made not one but two alerts on posters in this thread

The first one is being let to stand. I have asked for the jury to reconsider with the second, but have a feeling it will remain as well.

Things that make DU suck

[SickOfTheOnePct]

16. I didn't alert because I just don't unless it's completely off the hook outrageous

But I share your feelings...pretty disgusting, IMO.

[hrmjustin]

15. I am saying ptayers for the family.

May they rest in peace.

[JI7]

17. read in another article there was a smoke detector in the basement but not in the 1st and 2nd floors

of the home.

[malaise]

21. No doubt the adults made bad decisions

but the loss of seven children anywhere should evoke sadness.

[lovemydog]

18. thoughts & prayers

for their loved ones