Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Hasidic Owners Cleared in 2012 Philadelphia Factory Blaze That Killed 2 Firefighters

A Philadelphia grand jury has decided not to bring criminal charges against the Hasidic owners of an abandoned factory that burned down in Philadelphia in April 2012, causing the deaths of two firefighters.

District Attorney Seth Williams announced that an investigation failed to produce sufficient evidence of guilt against Michael and Nahman Lichtenstein, members of a prominent Brooklyn-based family that also owns the popular Haredi newspaper Hamodia.

“We’re all frustrated, we wish there was something that we can do to give the firefighters and the Neary family and the Sweeney family closure,” Williams was quoted saying in the Philadelphia City Paper.

Nahman and Michael Lichtenstein reportedly own about 30 other properties throughout Philadelphia, many of them vacant.

Though vindicating them of guilt, the grand jury’s report was reportedly critical of the two owners, whose negligence allegedly turned the vacant structure into “a firetrap.”

The report further criticized the Department of Licenses and Inspections and other government agencies for failing to hold the Lichtensteins accountable for safety issues in the lead-up to the fire.

“Licenses and Inspections…needs to have a thorough and complete review, from top to bottom,” Williams said according to the City Paper.

The investigation ultimately failed to produce an exact cause or source of the blaze.

“We can’t just charge people because we have a bad taste in our mouths or we’re angry,” Philly.com quoted Williams saying. “We are bound by the law.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.