City officials have launched an all-out fire-safety push after seven siblings died in a Brooklyn house blaze over the weekend.
“Having literally stood in that house and seen where these children were lost, it is an unspeakable tragedy, and there has got to be something that we take from it and learn from it and do better,’’ Mayor de Blasio said Monday.
“Today, as we speak, at the Fire Department, there is a meeting with Jewish community leaders that was previously planned in anticipation of Passover. Certainly at that occasion, [fire] Commissioner Nigro is talking about some of the key safety actions that people have to take, the most important being that everyone needs smoke alarms.
“We are going to be redoubling our public-education efforts around smoke alarms, but we’ll look at other lessons from this tragedy and find ways to work closely with the community,’’ de Blasio added, addressing reporters at Faneuil Hall in Boston, where he was attending the US Conference of Mayors.
The Orthodox Jewish children, ages 5 to 16, were killed after an apparently malfunctioning hot plate caught fire at their Midwood home just after midnight Saturday. Some observant families keep such plates on overnight during the Sabbath so they can cook hot food.
There were no smoke detectors on the first and second floors of the home, authorities have said.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said he also wants to push for the construction of a burn unit in his borough.
“Brooklyn … home to the fourth-largest population in the United States, currently has no such facility,’’ noted a press release from Adams’ office.
The children’s mother had to be rushed to Jacobi Medical Center’s burn unit after the blaze. She is clinging to life.
Meanwhile, their only surviving sibling, 15-year-old girl Tziporah, is being treated at Staten Island North Hospital’s burn unit, where she remains in critical condition.
Their father was at a religious retreat at the time of the blaze.
Adams and Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind also said they plan to distribute free smoke detectors to the community.
Kate Sheehy reported from New York
