Firefighting and rescue services successfully gained control over a large wildfire in Tzur Hadassah after several hours trying to fight the blaze.Some ten firefighting planes and 16 firefighting teams worked at the scene to extinguish the fire, and Israel Police monitored the the area throughout.According to a report from N12, Tzur Hadassah resident Noam Agmon had warned the Nature and Parks Authority over two months ago that there was a large risk that a fire of this size would break out, but his letter went unanswered."The writing was on the wall," said Agmon to N12.After the letter he sent on April 30th warning the regional inspector for the Nature and Parks Authority that an overgrowth of weeds could lead to a fire spreading to residential areas went unanswered, Agmon sent a second letter on May 16th.Agmon says it is unclear to him if anyone attempted to rectify the issue but that "it seems clear that nothing was done."The fire broke out at 9:00am on Friday morning, and according to N12 the fire station failed to send adequate firefighters to the scene to extinguish it when it was still relatively small, instead only sending the firefighting planes at 11:30am, two and a half hours after the initial reports came in.
The Health Ministry, along with the Environmental Protection Ministry, have issued a recommendation for heart and lung disease patients, the elderly, children, and pregnant women to avoid unnecessary outdoor activities, and, along with all all other residents, to avoid strenuous physical activity. Local authorities are expected to shortly issue instructions about returning to routine, and the 400 families who were evacuated from the town northwest of Beitar Illit on Friday afternoon will soon be able to return home.
