Shabbat Candles on a Refrigerator Spark Fire in Modi'in Illit Home, Family Escapes

A Saturday fire in an apartment in Modi'in Illit nearly ended in tragedy after, according to a preliminary investigation, Shabbat candles lit on top of a refrigerator ignited a blaze in the home. Thick smoke spread quickly through the apartment, waking one of the family’s daughters, who alerted the rest of the household, allowing everyone to flee safely before the fire caused further harm.

The fire broke out in the early morning hours in an apartment on Mesilat Yosef Street. Firefighters from the Benjamin area arrived at the scene, found the flames still burning in the apartment, extinguished them, searched for anyone trapped inside, and ventilated heat and smoke from the building.

Reshuf Mony Ben Tzion, who commanded the response, said, “A disaster almost happened in the fire on Mesilat Yosef Street. Had one of the family’s daughters not woken up because of the fire, we would have been dealing with a completely different incident.” He said the home was filled with heavy smoke and very high temperatures, and used the incident to stress that smoke alarms save lives by warning people early enough to escape and rescue their loved ones.

This was not the only fire firefighters handled in Modi'in Illit over Shabbat. In another case, in a building on Hefetz Haim Street, an electrical cabinet caught fire and heavy smoke spread through the building. Fire crews also worked there to put out the blaze, clear the smoke, and search for anyone trapped.