- A nursing home in Rockland County, New York, collapsed after a raging inferno tore through it.
- An eyewitness said the building had been engulfed in flames for around two hours before it exploded and caved in.
- Insider has not been able to independently confirm whether anyone was inside the building when it caved in.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A nursing home in Rockland County, New York, has collapsed after a raging inferno tore through it in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
It was reported that several people, including nursing home patients and a firefighter, were trapped in the Evergreen Court assisted living facility at 65 Lafayette Street in Spring Valley, New York, when the building went down. Insider has not been able to independently confirm this.
The home is listed online as a senior care and assisted living facility with room for up to 200 residents.
—Mark Kennedy (@RealMarkKennedy) March 23, 2021
Eyewitness Mark Kennedy told Insider that the fire was “raging” and that the building was “completely destroyed.”
“The fire was probably raging for around two hours, or maybe more, before the building caved in,” Kennedy said.
Another eyewitness, A. Mordechai from Rockland County, said that the fire started “minutes after 1 am.” However, by around 3.30 am, most people in the area were evacuated.
“The chaos and the blaze sound much better than before,” Mordechai said.
—Buff Rockland (@BuffRockland) March 23, 2021
According to media outlet Belaaz, the New York City Fire Department, along with helicopter assistance, has been called to help fight the blaze. Firefighters from as far away as North Jersey have also been called to the scene.
—Belaaz (@TheBelaaz) March 23, 2021
News site YidInfo published a short video on its site as well, which showed the fire blazing out of control. According to the site, multiple people were still trapped within, but school buses were being mobilized to help ferry elderly patients who had made it out of the home care facility away from the site.
According to Twitter posts, some seniors evacuated from the facility were being taken to the Golden Acre Rest Home at 11 Prospect Street in Spring Valley, a five-minute drive from Evergreen Court.
—Benny Polatseck (@BPolatseck) March 23, 2021
Rockland County is in upstate New York, about 45 minutes from New York City. It has a large Orthodox Jewish community.
Insider has reached out to the Monsey Fire Department and the Ramapo Police Department for comment.
This is a developing story.
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