Two synagogues burn down in Louisiana, no evidence of foul play

When firefighters arrived on the scene, the synagogue was already engulfed in a sea of flames. According to first responders, the fires were extended above the trees.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Lafayette, Louisiana (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Lafayette, Louisiana
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
An abandoned synagogue in Lafayette, Louisiana burned down to the ground on Thursday, according to local news reports - the cause of the fire has not been determined, however, it was determined that the fire started from the interior.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, the synagogue was already engulfed in a sea of flames. According to first responders, the fires extended high above the trees.
The day before the vacant Lafayette synagogue burnt down, an occupied synagogue in New Iberia, Louisiana caught fire - however, firefighters ascertain that the fire was not started intentionally.
The abandoned synagogue has been closed down since the 1990s, it was briefly occupied by another "religious entity" in 2010.
"It hasn't been occupied since 2016, but there's no markings, there's no indication that it was previously [a synagogue]," said Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan, according to ABC News. "It's just a matter of communicating with them to kind of see what kind of activity they had, if the building was unsecured, which is one of our concerns to see whether or not somebody had been recently accessing the building,"
Rabbi Barry Weinstein, who used to lead services at the synagogue before its abandonment spoke to ABC News about the fire.
"It was certainly very beautiful as a synagogue, and [the congregants] were extremely warm to me," Weinstein told ABC News.
"My glass is always half full, as people who know me would comment," Weinstein added. "I'm hoping and praying that this was not anything malicious but some sort of accident that happened inside the temple... the former temple."


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