Israel’s News Blog Magazine: Daily Stories Video and Photos

By Raz Koller

A wave of fires swept over the country yesterday, with fires bursting out from the north to the plain. The miracle was that there were no casualties. In the afternoon a fire started in the industrial zone in Rishon LeZion. It started out in a field of dried thorns, apparently as a result of the intense heat. It grew and spread towards an old car junkyard. For several hours the firemen worked to stop the fire from spreading to nearby factories, something that would have caused a huge amount of damage. When the firemen of Rishon LeZion saw that they might lose to the fire, firemen from the neighbor city Rehovot were called to aid. But due to water problems they had to call for special containers to finely have the fire under control.

The fire teams of the Golan and Galilee had their sixth day of fighting fires. From noon ’til after noon four fires have burst. The biggest of the four broke out in an open field near the Bnot-Yaakov bridge. There were concerns that it might spread to a restaurant nearby and from there to more businesses and building.
It took several hours to extinguish the flames, and the work wasn’t done until evening. It is estimated that nearly hundred acres of natural forest burnt down.

And in the indestrial zone of Kiryat Shmona another fire started in a field of thorns and threatened to spread right into the business of the area. A few tires lying around caught on fire and produced some thick black smoke, which made it difficult for the firemen to approach. After several hours the fire was out.

In Tzfat a fire burst near the elementary school, but fortunately the school was empty at the time. The firemen struggled to keep the fire from spearing to near buildings. Even while putting out one fire, they were immediately called to put out another fire, which had burst near a hotel.

The fire department along side with the police are investigating the cause for these fires, but it is probably due to the hot weather in the area. The meteorology service warns that it will be very hot in the next days, and there’s a danger of more fires in these areas.