Fire In Adult Care Home Is Linked To Pre-Passover Cleaning Ritual

A rabbi and his son have been charged with manslaughter after a massive fire in an adult care home which killed a resident and a firefighter, and was allegedly sparked after they used a blowtorch to clean a kitchen in a pre-Passover cleaning ritual.
Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer and his son Aaron Summer, were arraigned Tuesday on manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and arson charges in connection with the March 23 fire that ripped through the Evergreen Court Home for Adults in Spring Valley, New York.
The pair had used a blowtorch as part of a ritual to burn traces of forbidden non-Kosher food from kitchen utensils before a Passover meal. Nathaniel Sommer had been performing the cleaning ritual at the facility for 15 years, Evergreen said.
The two had been hired as 'independent contractors' for the cleaning ceremony, reported, and records show that the Evergreen Court fire was reported about an hour and a half after they left the facility.
DailyMail.com has reached out to their attorney for comment.
The care home was all but destroyed in the inferno, which spread from the first floor up through the roof and burned for some six hours.  
Oliver Hueston, a 79-year-old resident, was reported dead a few days later, and firefighter Jared Lloyd, 35, died in the fire trying to get people out of the building as it collapsed. 
Firefighters were seen trying to quell the flames after a massive fire broke out at the Evergreen Nursing Hoe in Spring Valley, New York on March 23. The fire is now believed to have been started after a rabbi and his son used a blowtorch in a pre-Passover cleaning ritual
Firefighters in Rockland County spent hours fighting the massive blaze
At one point, the roof collapsed in the building, killing one resident and leaving multiple people injured
Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh announced on Tuesday six people have been charged in the fire 
Three government and religious leaders alleged that the care home's fire alarm system was taken off line while the ritual involving the blowtorch was carried out, reports.
But Evergreen denied the allegations and insisted that the alarm and sprinklers were functioning when the blaze broke out. 
Chris Kear, Rockland's director of Fire & Emergency Services told News12 that alarms are sometimes turned off in order to prevent a false alarm, but refused to comment on this case. 
Two village building inspectors are also accused of filing reports to the state on fire inspection, Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh said on Tuesday, according to the .  
Walsh also would not discuss details of the fire alarm.
'We don't want to get into any details until [the case] has been presented to the grand jury,' Walsh said, 'and perhaps not even until the trial.'
'We don't want to do anything today that would impede or impact adversely on the prosecution,' he explained.
Lee Vartan, an attorney for the Schonberger family, owners of Evergreen Court, said the adult home has cooperated with the officials in the investigation.
'We know from our investigation that the facility's fire mitigation systems were all operational and functioned as intended the night of the fire,' Vartan said in a statement to Lohud. 
'One thing we do not yet know is the extent to which the area's historic water pressure problems prevented the fire from being contained.'
According to Lohud, a lack of pressure at a hydrant 75 yards from the entrance to Evergreen Court sucked the fire hydrant off the ground, severing its connection to the water line.
Investigators are continuing to look into the water issues, Lohud reports.
Firefighters were still trying to quell the flames as the sun came out 
They monitored hotspots from the fire that completely burned down the adult home
They surveyed the damage after the fire completely ripped through the building
The image above shows mangled staircases amid smoldering ruins left behind by the fire
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Meanwhile, four other people have been charged in connection with the fire, including two village building inspectors, Wayne Ballard and Raymond Canario.
They are accused of filing false reports to the state about the building's fire inspections, and are charged with offering a false instrument for filing and falsifying business records. They are due back in court later this month.
And arrest warrants were also issued for Evergreen Director Denise Kerr and Manuel Lema 'for their actions from within the facility prior to the start of the fire.'
Lema had not been working at the facility at the time, according to Lohud, but is facing criminal impersonation and obstructing governmental administration charges, while Kerr is facing a reckless endangerment charge.
'Our goal is to hold those responsible for the fire and the deaths responsible for their actions,' Walsh said in a news conference Tuesday.
Fire alarms first went off on March 23 at about 12:45 a.m., according to , and by 12:53 a.m., a receptionist called 911.  
The fire quickly spread from the first floor up through the roof and burned for some six hours. 
'It's a frame building,' Rockland County Director of Fire and www.cruisewhat.com Emergency Services Chris Kear said at the time. 'It's had numerous additions on it. 
'I believe it was a partial sprinkler system in the building. The sheer size of the building and the amount of the fire is what's making it take so long.' 
Jared Lloyd, 35, a 15-year volunteer with the Spring Valley Fire Department, was killed in the massive nursing home fire. His body was recovered only hours later 
An exhausted firefighter takes a much-needed break near the scene of the blaze
A volunteer firefighter from nearby Suffern, New York also decided to take a break as smoke was co



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