What you should know
- A Rockland County grand jury has indicted a father and son on multiple charges, including second-degree murder in connection with the deadly March fire at an adult home, our sister network News 4 learned. .
- Nathaniel and Aaron Sommer, a rabbi and their son, have denied wrongdoing in the fire that killed a volunteer firefighter and an elderly resident of Evergreen Court Home for Adults. The facility maintains that the two were independent contractors.
- The father and son duo had been performing a pre-Passover cleaning ritual that involves heating kitchen utensils to burn off the remains of forbidden food.
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NEW YORK – A Rockland County grand jury has indicted a father and son on multiple charges, including second-degree murder in connection with the deadly March fire at an adult home, our news learned. sister network News 4.
Nathaniel and Aaron Sommer, a rabbi and their son, have denied wrongdoing in the fire that killed a volunteer firefighter and an elderly resident of Evergreen Court Home for Adults. The facility maintains that the two were independent contractors.
The father and son duo had been performing a pre-Passover cleaning ritual that involves heating kitchen utensils to burn off the remains of forbidden food. Records show the Evergreen Court fire was reported about 90 minutes after Nathaniel and Aaron Sommer left the premises after preparing the kitchen for Pesach, the Journal News previously reported.
Evergreen officials said after the fire that Nathaniel Sommer had been performing the cleaning ritual at the facility for 15 years. They are charged with using a blowtorch that could violate state safety regulations.
The Sommers were among six people charged in June in connection with the fire. Two Spring Valley employees were charged with presenting false instruments for filing and falsifying records. In addition, two others face charges, including a charge for reckless endangering the house manager.
Investigators had said two days after the fire destroyed the facility that its automatic alarm system was disconnected at the time of the fire.
Multiple sources with first-hand knowledge of the investigation told News 4 that the automated alarm system was not connected to the county’s central dispatch when the fire broke out, meaning someone at the facility had to call 911 and report the fire manually. In fact, the system had been shut down the night before the deadly fire, sources told NBC New York.
State, federal and county investigators conducted a raid on Spring Valley Village Hall last week in connection with the investigation.
Parts of the building in Rockland County collapsed; several residents had to be evacuated by firefighters.
A source familiar with the investigation told News 4 at the time that household documents related to the fatal fire in March were suspected of potentially fraudulent. The scope of the investigation has now been expanded to include the entire household, the source added.
The Rockland County District Attorney’s Office led the raid along with New York State fire inspectors and agents from the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Rockland County volunteer firefighter Jared Lloyd was one of two victims of the fire that tore through the Spring Valley nursing home. A resident also died.
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Authorities say Lloyd was one of the first firefighters to arrive at the scene. He was on the third floor trying to put out the flames when he became disoriented and was eventually trapped there. Lloyd was last heard when he issued an emergency call, and was unable to leave the building when it collapsed.
According to Rockland County officials, the smoke detector and sprinkler reports, which are not directly monitored by the Health Department but were reviewed, were in compliance with the department when they were last verified in December 2019.
Denise Kerr, director of Evergreen Court Home for Adults, has called the fire “an unspeakable tragedy,” adding that local officials are cooperating with all state and local authorities as the investigation into the fire continues, and have initiated your own internal investigation.
Kerr said in a subsequent statement that the facility was inspected multiple times by the Health Department and local authorities in 2020, and that no citations or violations related to fire safety were found.
They say goodbye to the firefighter who died in a fire in Spring Valley
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