Two fires broke out in bomb shelters in residential buildings in central Israel on Monday, first in Petah Tikva and about an hour later in Yavne, sending 17 smoke inhalation victims to hospitals and prompting evacuations and searches for trapped residents. Authorities said two of the injured were in moderate condition and the others were lightly hurt.
The first incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. in Petah Tikva. Firefighters who were called to the scene worked to extinguish the fire and to search the shelter and the apartments in the building. At the end of the searches, no trapped people were found. The crews gained control of the fire's seat and carried out smoke ventilation from the stairwell. A fire investigator was called to the scene to examine the circumstances surrounding the fire's outbreak.
About an hour later, at around 12:30 p.m. local time, a report was received about another fire in a shelter in a residential building in the city of Yavne. Firefighting teams that arrived at the scene worked to bring the fire under control and to rescue residents from the smoke-filled building.
Eight casualties suffering from smoke inhalation arrived at Kaplan Medical Center, among them five adults and three children. According to the latest update from the hospital, their condition was defined as light, and they were undergoing a series of tests and receiving medical treatment in the trauma room and the emergency medicine department.
Later, the authorities updated that a total of 17 casualties were evacuated to Kaplan Hospital and Assuta Ashdod Hospital, including a 29-year-old man and a 25-year-old man in moderate condition, and 15 casualties in light condition.
Israel Senker, a Yavne resident who lives in the building where the fire broke out, told Walla: “Luckily, I was at work, and I had taken my work with me. Suddenly, people from the building across from mine called me and told me the building was on fire, and they sent me videos. I saw all the rescue teams. This is a shelter where we are supposed to protect ourselves during sirens, but apparently, the municipality will take care of us and evacuate us from here.”
Number of evacuated families increases
The municipality said that at this stage, 16 families had been evacuated from the building to a nearby school, where they would receive initial assistance from municipal teams. At the same time, firefighting teams completed searches in the building and worked to ventilate the smoke that had accumulated there. A fire investigator was called to the scene to examine the circumstances surrounding the fire's outbreak.
Magen David Adom senior medic Ilana Ben Avraham said, “We received a report about a fire in a residential building. We arrived at the scene with large forces and saw heavy smoke rising from the shelter and spreading to the upper floors. With the assistance of the firefighting forces, 17 casualties came out to us fully conscious and suffering from signs of smoke inhalation. We provided them with medical treatment at the scene and evacuated them to hospitals, with two of them defined as being in moderate condition and the rest of the casualties in light condition.”