Highland Park, NJ - Heroes Rescue Torahs From Synagogue Fire

Highland Park, NJ - A police officer and a first aid squad member repeatedly dashed into the burning synagogue last Thursday on South Third Avenue, and rescued its eight Torahs before the building's floor collapsed.

Members of the 420-family synagogue were grateful to Sgt. Joseph Spezio and Andrew Brown, a member of the Highland Park First Aid Squad.
Brown said he and Spezio saw flames burning through the floor from the basement when they entered. It took several trips to remove six Torahs from the sanctuary and two that were in a small chapel. "I'm an observant Jew and I'm aware of the value and meaning of the Torahs," said Brown, who belongs to a different synagogue. "You just go in. You do it without thinking." He said the heat was not severe, but that the smoke made his eyes tear.
They also rescued remnants of a Torah desecrated by Nazis that was found in Krakow, Poland.

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Meanwhile" a faulty electrical wire sparked the blaze, acting borough Police Chief Frank Atherton Jr. told the congregation Friday night.
There was "absolutely no indication of criminal activity," Atherton told about 35 people who attended Friday evening services at the YH-YMCA on South Adelaide Avenue. A multiagency investigation concluded about 6 p.m. Friday, he said.
The investigation's result came as a relief, Rabbi Eliot Malomet said. "Everyone was hoping this would be the finding. This event would have taken on a different tone" otherwise, Malomet told the congregants.

State, Middlesex County and Highland Park agencies including the county prosecutor's arson unit and the state police's Arson and Bomb Squad investigated the fire's aftermath.