Firefighters continue to battle blazes that forced thousands to flee their homes
Firefighters continued on Saturday morning to battle the blazes in northern Israel that forced thousands of people to flee their homes a day earlier.
Firefighting teams worked to extinguish blazes near the town of Nof Hagalil after around 5,000 residents were evacuated on Friday.
The majority were permitted to return on Saturday, the Walla news site reported, with engineers performing checks on some damaged homes.
Channel 12 news reported that there were still fires burning in the Churchill Forest near the town on Saturday morning and that 3,000 dunams (741 acres) had been destroyed so far.
Northern firefighter commander Nizar Fares said that firefighting planes had resumed operations in the area.
“Firefighters continue to stubbornly fight to stop the spread of fire and protect the residents of Nof Hagalil and their homes,” said Fares. “Overnight we prepared for the continuation of the campaign, and at this stage the residents are not in any danger. The firefighting efforts will continue throughout the day. I call on the public to obey the instructions of the emergency bodies.”
Dozens of homes were destroyed or damaged at a number of locations on Friday as wildfires raged across the country. Two people were treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation.
Firefighter chief Dedi Simchi told Channel 12 that his forces battled 250 fires on Friday, including seven major blazes.
Simchi said investigators were starting to probe the cause of the fires, but that arson was suspected in most cases.
“We believe that most will be found to have been caused by human factors, we don’t yet know if it was negligence or deliberate,” he said, noting that Israel does not suffer from frequent lightning strikes.
The Ynet news site quoted unnamed security officials as saying that there was concern some of the fires in the West Bank may have been deliberately started by Palestinians. Palestinian arson was widely blamed for many of the fires in 2016, but ultimately no one was prosecuted for nationalistically-motivated arson.
Palestinian sources said several blazes were caused by IDF smoke and tear gas canisters fired during clashes with Palestinian protesters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday held urgent consultations on the fires, saying that he would call for international assistance if the situation deteriorated.
“I received updates from the fire department chief and I asked him to ensure that we are using all our resources, and if need be, consider international assistance,” Netanyahu tweeted after meeting with internal security, police, and National Security Council officials.
A statement from his office said that he was assured that currently, the situation was under control and that firefighters were being assisted by the police and the Israel Defense Force’s Home Front Command.
Israel formed a regional fire-fighting alliance with Cyprus and Greece after Israel was devastated in 2016 by a series of brushfires that burned tens of thousands of acres, wounded some 200 people, and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes.
The country was forced to ask allies to send firefighting planes and other equipment and personnel to help fight the blazes, that were also largely caused by a late fall heatwave with dry weather and strong winds.
As well as the blaze near Nof Hagalil, firefighters also battled large fires on Friday near six other communities, with thousands more people being evacuated.
In the West Bank settlement of Kfar HaOranim near the city of Modiin, several houses were destroyed before firefighters managed to gain control of the blaze.
The IDF said that dozens of its soldiers had been dispatched to the Mevo Dotan settlement along with the central town of Bat Hefer to assist in the evacuation of families whose homes were in the line of fire.
Another large fire was reported near Umm al-Qutuf, east of Hadera. Some 13 firefighting teams were at the scene and working to douse the flames. Residents were evacuated from the Arab village, as well as from nearby Kafr Qara and Ar’ara.
Blazes had also broken out near the towns of Hadera, Emek Hefer, Nazareth, Umm al-Qutuf, Fureidis, Margaliot and Lapidot.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Palestinian Civil Defense was fighting 60 fires across areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the agency said.
A rare October heatwave ramped up over Israel on Thursday, bringing blazing temperatures to many parts of the country as an alarmingly hot summer and fall continued to grip the region.