by Thomas Breen
A “very small” fire broke out in the basement of Rabbi Daniel Greer’s Edgewood yeshiva building earlier this week.
Assistant Fire Chief Danny Coughlin told the Independent that firefighters responded to the school building at 765 Elm St. at 5:01 p.m. Monday.
There was a small fire in the basement, he said, and “a little smoke throughout the building.”
Couglhin said that “rubbish in the basement caught fire.” Firefighters brought the blaze under control quickly; no one was hurt.
The building appeared to be unoccupied at the time of the fire, Coughlin said. The department’s investigative unit is still looking into the cause of the fire.
Asked if the building appears to be actively used as a school, Coughlin said he’s not sure. It “looks like they’re doing work in there,” he said.
The building itself, formerly the city’s Roger Sherman School, has for decades been run and owned by a nonprofit controlled by Greer. Greer retained control of the property even when he was in prison for sexually abusing a student at that very same Elm Street school building. Monday’s fire took place roughly a month after a state judge ordered Greer released from prison years early, primarily because of his old age and poor health.