Fire officials are trying to determine the cause of a Sunday afternoon fire at a commercial building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn that impacted a number of businesses and displaced families.

Those businesses include a kebab restaurant, a shoes store, a toy store and a bargain center. Fire officials say a total of nine businesses were reduced to rubble after a fire tore through the building located at 106 Lee Avenue.

“Everything got lost,” said Sam Goldstein, who lives in the community. “So it’s a very, very big loss for Jewish people.”

What You Need To Know

  • Fire officials are trying to determine the cause of a Sunday afternoon fire at a commercial building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn that impacted a number of businesses and displaced families

  • Authorities say a total of nine businesses were reduced to rubble after a fire tore through the building located at 106 Lee Avenue

  • The tragedy comes just before the start of the Jewish holiday season that includes Rosh Hashanah and Yam Kippur, which is when Jewish business hope to make a significant amount of revenue

He was among members of the close knit Hasidic neighborhood who showed up to see the damage for themselves on Monday.

“Usually people help each other very fast,” Goldstein said. “So it’s just, we’re in shock, everybody’s in shock having such a thing. Nice stores, nice stores.”  

FDNY officials said firefighters arrived in less than four minutes after 911 calls alerted them to a blaze at the Lee Avenue location Sunday afternoon. Eventually, 200 FDNY personnel responded, but it wasn’t enough to save the building. If the plan is to rebuild, neighbors say it could take a while.

“It will take a long time, it will, said Ben Klein, who is also a member of the community. “But what can you do? That’s God’s will. Everything is from God.”

Others in the community said the timing couldn’t be worse for Jewish business owners with major Jewish holidays coming up, including Rosh Hashanah and Yam Kippur. Rabbi David Niederman of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn said businesses packed their shelves with new merchandise for the season, just to see it go up in flames.

“The business itself, it affects the immediate families of the store owners,” Niederman said. “But it affects also the community revenue. Major shopping opportunities needed for preparation for school and the holidays are effected by that.”

Additionally, Niederman said eight families who lived in the apartment building adjacent to the burned commercial building have also been displaced.

He said his organization is working with city leaders and the Red Cross to help the dozens of business owners, employees and families recover.

“So it’s a combined effort, government and community responding to this disaster that we have on our hands,” he said.

While the impacted businesses have insurance, community leaders say it’s not enough to cover all the damage.

FDNY officials also say 10 firefighters were injured in the fire, but are expected to be OK.