March 14, 2005 -- An elderly woman's makeshift altar turned her Brooklyn apartment into an inferno yesterday after her votive candle, bearing a picture of Jesus, fell to the floor and set her bedroom ablaze, officials said.
Rose Koffman, a 75-year-old neighborhood fixture, said she tried to put out the lunchtime fire with a blanket and a pillow, but the flames in her third-floor apartment spread too quickly. Fortunately, Koffman and other residents in the three apartments at 1635 E. 19th St. in Midwood got out of the building before anyone was hurt.
Every Sunday, Koffman said, she lights her favorite candle, a glass votive with a picture of Jesus, and puts it in her bedroom window.
Koffman said that yesterday she left the room to make lunch for her son, a disabled vet, and her daughter before coming back to find the room on fire.
When the pillow and blanket were no help, she retrieved some water from the bathroom, but the fire was too big by then, so she got out.
"When I came back, it just went crazy," Koffman said outside the building, where she stood in shorts and slippers. "I couldn't believe how fast it moved."
Koffman said the window was cracked open a couple of inches and a quick gust probably knocked the candle over.
A third-floor neighbor rushed in and tried to help put out the fire, but it was too intense.
"It was really hot, and it spread quickly," the neighbor said. "I got my little son and my wife and got them out."
About 50 firefighters responded to the call. Officials said the blaze
