Liberty, NY – As fire officials upstate continue to investigate last night’s lethal fire, VIN News has learned that there were no smoke detectors in any of the bungalows at Camp Mareh Yechezkel off Rt. 55, and that fire officials came close to evacuating the entire colony last night.
A fire watch was run throughout the night last night at the camp, located on Route 55 in Liberty. As previously reported on VIN News, three year old Aron Follman died in the blaze last night after rescuers were unable to retrieve him from the burning building that broke out just before 10 PM.
The cause of the fire is believed to be a clip-on fan.
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Aron’s mother managed to rescue two of her three children from the burning bungalow and his father, Shlomo Avraham Follman was present at the time the fire broke out. Both Hatzolah members and state troopers tried to rescue the toddler from the blaze. All four were transported to Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris.
“Both Sergeant Richard Wright and Trooper Dwight Herman from nearby Troop S in Liberty tried so hard to get him out,” Yanky Meyer of Misaskim told VIN News. “They tried fevershly to get into the building. They tried from the front. They tried from the back. They tried from the neighbor. They just didn’t stop.”
According to Meyer who arrived on scene after the fire was extinguished at approximately 10:30 PM, there were numerous downed live electrical wires on the property due to the fire.
Hatzolah was the first to arrive at the scene last night, followed shortly thereafter by units from both the Liberty and Swan Lake fire departments.
A small levaya was held at 1:30 AM last night at Camp Mareh Yechezkel for those who were already in the Catskills with a larger levaya to take place at 11:00 AM this morning at the Linzer Shul in Borough Park.
Burial will take place at the Bobov section of the Washington Cemetery in Deans, New Jersey.
