Bed-Stuy House Of Worship Apparently A Total Loss After Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A fire broke out at a house of worship in Brooklyn Tuesday morning.
The fire broke out at around 9 a.m. at B'nai Adath Kol Beth Yisrael on Patchen and Greene Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
It quickly grew to two alarms.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
A 71-year-old man who had been working on the roof is expected to be charged with reckless endangerment for improper use of a blowtorch, according to police.
Video from the scene showed extensive damage to the roof.
Firefighters told CBS2's Marc Liverman they expect the building was a total loss.
Investigators were set to determine the cause of the fire. Both Torah scrolls were salvaged by firefighters.
Rabbi Baruch Yehudah told Liverman the building had been there since the 1700s and has been a synagogue since about 1860.
"That is absolutely my intention to rebuild right here on this corner," Yehudah told Liverman. "If God gives us the strength and the ability, right here on this corner B'Nai Adath will rise again, right here on this corner."
