At 1:00 AM on Saturday night, fire crews were dispatched to a yeshiva located on Golda Meir Street in Jerusalem, after receiving a call about a fire in the yeshiva.
Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control, prevented the fire from spreading to the entire building, and ventilated the area from the smoke that had accumulated there.
An initial investigation by Jerusalem Fire and Rescue investigators indicates that apparently cloths that were placed on an improvised Shabbat plate, which is prohibited for use and extremely dangerous, of the 'balech' type (an iron plate placed directly over an open flame) to keep the dishes warm, ignited, causing the fire and damage.
Fire and Rescue emphasizes that "this type of heating and maintaining heat in an electric Shabbat plate is completely prohibited. With a 'Blech' type Shabbat plate, this is doubly serious and dangerous! When using this dangerous plate, the chance of a potentially fatal fire breaking out is extremely high."
The Fire Safety and Investigations Division of the Jerusalem District Fire and Rescue Department says that they have documentation of "a large number of fires in buildings, some of which unfortunately resulted in casualties and extensive property damage, as a result of the use of prohibited Shabbat plates and heating food on Shabbat plates (including standard ones) and covering them, in an unsafe and prohibited manner."
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