Worker Killed By Falling Wall At Fire-Ravaged LES Synagogue: FDNY

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — One worker was killed and another seriously hurt when a wall fell at the site of a Lower East Side synagogue destroyed in a fire more than two years ago, the FDNY said.

The wall fell on two workers about 10 a.m. Monday at the fire-gutted synagogue, at 60 Norfolk St. near Broome Street, according to an FDNY spokesperson.

The workers were rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and Bellevue Hospital, the FDNY spokesperson said.

The NYPD said the man with a leg injury was listed in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Monday afternoon.

The other man was pronounced dead at the Lower Manhattan hospital, according to NYPD. His name has not yet been announced.

Firefighters were searching the destroyed synagogue and checking the stability of the building all morning, an FDNY spokesperson said.

Video from the Citizen App shows a person being taken away on a stretcher and emergency responders on scene at the synagogue, surrounded by fencing.

The remaining brick walls were not in imminent danger of collapsing, but the Department of Buildings' Forensic Engineering Unit and Construction Safety Enforcement Unit were still investigating the site, department spokesperson Abigail Kunitz said.

"DOB experts in structural engineering and emergency response are on scene conducting an aggressive investigation of this tragedy," department spokesperson Abigail Kunitz said in a statement.

"Every worker who leaves for the job site in the morning deserves to come home safely at night," Kunitz said.

Titan Industrial SVC Corp. had permits to stabilize the structure to allow for unstable portions to be torn down, after a 2017 fire destroyed the synagogue, according to Kunitz.

A partially collapsed arch window — located 36 feet high — still needs to be stabilized, and the department is coordinating with contractors to create a plan for that work, according to Kunitz.

Bricks from the arch window will be removed Monday afternoon under supervision from Buildings engineers, she said.

A representative for the company said Titan Industrial had no comment.

The Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue was vacant for more than a decade before the 2017 fire, which was investigated as possible arson at the time, though a teen accused of sparking the blaze was ultimately not charged in court.

The site had become a flashpoint for safety concerns at the dilapidated building.

"It's been untouched — just decrepit forever," said Adan Soria, 29, a Lower East Side resident living nearby the synagogue on Clinton Street.

Soria said he's seen homeless people camped out at the lot inside a fenced in area and has friends who have snuck in the site to graffiti the brick remnants.

The synagogue has been in "limbo for the longest time," he added.

The lot sits nearby a slew of rising towers amid the Essex Crossing development. The remaining synagogue, which was a city landmark, itself expected to be replaced with a two-tower project of hundreds of apartments, some earmarked as below market rate and senior housing. The project is currently winding its way through the city's review process.