Manhattan, NY – Fire from Shabbas Candles Injures Elderly Woman

Manhattan, NY – A longtime tenant of a Lower East Side building was critically injured in a fire that erupted in her seventh-floor apartment last night, authorities said.

A neighbor of the 81-year-old Jewish woman said she lit religious candles on Friday nights — and often kept her window slightly open. Last night it was particularly windy, she noted.

Her name was not immediately released. She was taken to Beth Israel Hospital in critical condition.

“I normally walk with her to see her husband in the nursing home every day,” said a friend on the 12th floor of the building at 500 Grand St. “She’s such a nice lady.”