Fire Ravages a Bronx Islamic Center

September 18, 2009

Author: Sarah Wheaton and Mathew R. Warren

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/nyregion/19fire.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Two years ago, thousands gathered at the Islamic Cultural Center in the Bronx to mourn 10 people who were killed in a house fire. On Friday, many who gathered at the center for prayers found that the building itself had been badly damaged in a fire.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, a fire began in a grocery store and restaurant that share the building, at East 166th Street and Clay Avenue in Morrisania, and spread to the cultural center. Worshipers at the center were there later than usual to commemorate the holy month of Ramadan, and emerged to see flames coming from the store.