Torah scrolls were rescued from fire

A huge fire broke out this morning (Wednesday) at a synagogue in Or Akiva. Considerable damage was done to the place, but the Torah scrolls were rescued.

At 6:46am the fire service received a report of a huge fire which broke out in a synagogue on Shlomo Dardasti street in Or Akiva. Four firefighters left for the fire area and discovered the structure on fire.

The firefighters began operations while scanning the synagogue, after one of the residents in the neighborhood said a man was sleeping in the building. A few minutes later the scan operations were over, and forces and continued extinguishing the fire.

After extinguishing the fire, while smoke enveloped the entire building, firefighters went into the Aron Kodesh and broke into it. "We were shocked," said one of the mispalelim. "The firefighters came out of the building with four Torah scrolls intact."

Behadrey Haredim learned that the heavy damage caused to the synagogue could have avoided almost completely if the residents would have called the firefighters during the first few seconds they saw flames of fire. "We were exposed to the fact that already at 6:30 there was someone who started to extinguish the fire by himself and shouted to residents to call the fire forces," said deputy commander Dudu Vanono, a spokesman for the Hedera Fire and Rescue Services to Behadrey Haredim. "Each person relied on the next, and until 6:46 we did not get a call."

According to him, the fact that firefighters were able to rescue the Torah scrolls in their entirety "is a great miracle."

Circumstances of the fire are still being explored.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!