Fatal Fire: Sources Say Alarms Were Off For Pre-Passover Cleaning

SPRING VALLEY, NY — Staff members at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults may have turned off some fire alarms because they were cleaning the kitchen in a pre-Passover ritual, according to news reports.

"The holiday starts Saturday, but the koshering process typically begins days before and involves the removal of all foods with leavening agents," News12 said, citing government and religious leaders as sources for their report Thursday.

The Journal News reported that for the ritual, cleaners of industrial ovens may use propane torches to generate intense heat.

On Friday, TJN quoted a statement by the director of the Evergreen Court Home for Adults saying the rabbi in charge of the cleaning left 90 minutes before fire alarms went off in the building at the start of Tuesday's massive, fatal fire.

The alarm system is supposed to link directly to the county's Fire Control 44, lohud.com reported.

"The fire alarm system in the building was on test. We don't know why that was," Spring Valley Fire Chief Ken Conjura said at a news briefing Friday. "We were dispatched for a 911 call for a smell of smoke. That is still being investigated."

Other potential issues include questions about sprinkler systems and water pressure.

Rockland County fire coordinator Chris Kear called the building "partially sprinklered" on Tuesday. He said later that investigators would be looking at the sprinkler and alarm systems as they probed the causes of the fire and its intensity.

Another problem Kear noted in briefings was that on the night of the blaze, firefighters had to stretch hose lines more than a thousand feet to Route 45 because closer hydrants lacked water pressure.

The assisted living facility, which housed 112 residents, was a converted hotel built in 1903.

Speculation has swirled about the cause of the massive blaze that destroyed the assisted living facility and killed two people — firefighter Jared Lloyd and a resident who has not been identified.

The fire was called in just before 1 a.m. and spread rapidly. Lloyd, 35, was rescuing residents. He had sent out a Mayday call from an upper floor before it collapsed, but he could not be reached.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has joined the investigative team along with the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, the Rockland County Sheriff's Office and the Spring Valley Police Department. Officials are asking for patience, saying they are analyzing the debris and interviewing staff and residents.

The Spring Valley Fire Department announced a news conference at 4 p.m. Friday.

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