Tzur Hadassah fire under control, evacuated families to return home soon
The past few days have seen multiple fires break out throughout Israel.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, SHIRA SILKOFFUpdated: JUNE 4, 2021 22:16A fire in Tzur Hadassah rages uncontrollably as firefighters work to extinguish it, June 4, 2021(photo credit: JUDEA AND SAMARIA FIRE DEPARMENT)
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.
Route 375 was closed to traffic going west as a result of the fire for a short amount of time, but traffic resumed shortly afterwards.The fire spread over 12 acres of land.A fire in Tzur Hadassah rages uncontrollably as firefighters work to extinguish it, June 4, 2021. (Credit: JUDEA AND SAMARIA FIRE DEPARMENT)A fire also broke out in southern Israel near Be'er Tuviya at a factory and warehouse which makes and stores plastic goods. The firefighters worked to prevent the fire from spreading to the internal compound of the factory, and tried to lower the flames combustion temperature of the fire."Thanks to the fire safety systems that are required by the fire and rescue services which were implemented before the crews arrived, the fire was prevented from entering the factory," said the Ashdod fire station's deputy commander Ariel Danan. The fire was contained and prevented from spreading to nearby factories, according to Fire and Rescue spokesperson for Israel's southern district Eli Cohen.
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