Israel's Mediterranean climate is typified by warm, dry, rainless summers. When temperatures are high and hot, dry winds blow, and when wildflowers have dried up and the hills are covered with yellow dry grasses, fires start easily and are hard to extinguish. KKL-JNF plays a major role in preventing and extinguishing wildfires, which in Israel usually result from arson or negligence.
Forest fires are the archenemy of the trees and of the forest's ecosystem. A forest fire ignites when there is high temperature, oxygen and flammable material. A forest fire will spread when assisted by contiguous flammable material, both horizontal and vertical, by slopes and ravines and by weather conditions, primarily strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures.
The ability of foresters to be effectual in preventing forest fires and minimizing them is based mainly on reducing the amount of flammable substances in the area and breaking its contiguity vertically as well as horizontally. Good infrastructure also helps minimize the area a fire spreads to, such as access roads and water supply, above all, and early detection of the fire as well as availability of sufficient firefighters to reach the fire as soon as possible.
For further information, comments or permission please contact
Ahuva Bar-Lev
KKL-JNF – Information and Publications
Phone: 972-2-6583354 Fax:972-2-6583493