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February 1, 2002/19 Shevat 5762, Vol. 54, No. 20
Detroit Jewish paper damaged by fire
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - The offices of one of the largest Jewish newspapers in North America, the Detroit Jewish News, suffered extensive fire damage Jan. 27.
No one was injured in the blaze, which started in the early evening. No employees were in the sprawling one-story suburban office.
The cause was electrical, and the fire was deemed an accident by the local fire marshal.
Editor Robert Sklar said the experience had been "a nightmare." However, the Jewish weekly will publish Feb. 1 as usual, he said, with staff working from their homes and a nearby hotel.
"The Jewish News continues to live; it's just the building that was taken from us."
He added that the fire - whose flames shot 20 to 30 feet in the air - gutted the company's business and graphic design departments. The editorial department had water damage, but no fire damage.
Arthur Horwitz, the newspaper's publisher, said he was working in the building until 2 p.m. on Jan. 27. He then received a call at home that evening, alerting him that smoke detectors had gone off and the fire department was on its way.
A bound set of all the issues printed by the 60-year-old newspaper was removed from the building, but it is not clear whether the volumes will be salvageable. However, the volumes are also archived at a nearby temple.
The newspaper, which has approximately 50 employees, had leased the office space since the early 1990s, and it is not clear whether it will now move to a new permanent location.
The Detroit Jewish News has a weekly readership of 50,000.
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