93-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Killed In Coney Island Apartment Fire
A 93-year-old survivor of the Holocaust died Monday morning after a fire ripped through his 15th floor apartment.
Lipa Briks, who fled Poland in the 1930s, was pulled unconscious from his burning apartment at the Luna Park complex at 2954 West 8th Street shortly after 1:15 a.m.
He was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He lived alone inside the apartment.
Fire marshals said yesterday that the blaze was caused by faulty electrical wiring.
“He escaped the Nazis, he escaped the Soviet army, he escaped an anti-Semitic Polish regime, but he couldn’t escape the fire,” Briks’ friend and neighbor Michael Bar told the Daily News. “He was the only one in his very large family to survive the Holocaust.”
Fire marshals: Cause of today's all-hands fire at 2954 West 8th St., #Brooklyn, was accidental — electrical wiring. #FDNY
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 31, 2014
Clarification: The original version of this article said the victim was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where he died. To clarify, he was dead on arrival and was pronounced so at the hospital. The article has been amended to reflect this.