Saddle Rock Minyan fire heavily damages center on Yom Kippur

Unattended candles outside a prayer and Torah study center in Saddle Rock sparked a fire early Saturday and forced one person inside to escape, police and fire officials said. 

The fast-moving fire was reported at the Saddle Rock Minyan, located in a house on Greenleaf Hill at 12:13 a.m., according to Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro.

Fire officials said the candles were left burning on the front porch as part of a Yom Kippur ceremony, which started sundown on Friday. It quickly spread to the center and some curtains, according to Great Neck Alert Fire Company Chief John Purcell.

One person sleeping upstairs fled through the back door of the center, Purcell said. According to the center's website, a rabbi and his family moved to the Minyan in 2018. 

"The whole first floor was destroyed. The second floor had heavy smoke damage," Purcell said, adding there was extensive damage to the location.

It took eight fire trucks and 50 firefighters one hour to bring the fire under control. The Vigilant Fire Department and the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department also helped battle the flames. 

Uttaro said religious scrolls were removed by firefighters. 

On Saturday morning, community members were busy salvaging furniture and other items around 11 a.m. Some headed to a residential home next-door to the center, which was being set up to temporarily handle holiday observances normally handled by the Minyan.

Across the street, Zach Schulman, 28, said the center normally served scores of community members on a weekly basis. When he arrived home around 9 p.m., dozens of kids were playing on the Minyan’s front lawn.

"It looked like a happy, normal night. I came back in my home, went to sleep, then I wake up and the alarms are going [off]," he said.

The neighborhood around the center had little vehicular traffic but many pedestrians on Saturday, as many residents observed the holiday, the holiest day in the Jewish year.

Though the fire had long since been put out, an alarm inside the center continued to emit an eerie beep as residents and reporters milled about on the sunny street.

With Lorena Mongelli