A large forest fire broke out in several areas 30 kilometers west of Jerusalem This Wednesday, which forced housing evacuations, the closure of the highway that leads to Tel Aviv and the deployment of military force. In addition, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared the situation as a “National Emergency”.
The president warned that “The west wind can easily push the fire towards the outskirts of (Jerusalem) and even to the city itself.”
“We need to bring as many fire trucks as possible and create firewalls far beyond the current lines of fire … Now we are in a national emergency, not only local“He expanded in a video.
For his part, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, He ordered the deployment of troops to support firefighters fighting forest fires of rapid propagation near Jerusalem, qualifying the situation of “national emergency “Israeli media reported.
Large columns of smoke after forest fire in Jerusalem
Important smoke columns rose on the roads near Jerusalem While firefighters tried to control the flames that caused a large number of injured.
The Israeli Defense Forces were added to the work of firefighters and the police To combat forest fires in the hills of Jerusalem, according to the local media The Times of Israel.
The Israeli rescue agency Magen David Adom (MDA) reported by The risk ran hundreds of civilians for one of the worst forest fires in years.
In numbers, sixteen people were treated by minor injuries Due to smoke inhalation, according to the MDA, which also reported that the alert level had been high to the maximum.
For fires, The police closed the main road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and evacuated the residentSa along the route when forest fires exploded in the same area that had been devastated by the flames a week ago.
Through a press conference the commander of the Fire Service and Rescue of the district of Jerusalem, Shmulik Friedman, warned that the fire in the Jerusalem hills “It can be the greatest that has ever been in this country”, And it was not yet “far from being contained.”
On the other hand, the Chief of the General Staff of the FDI, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir ordered the military to help fight the flames
The Israel’s Force of Israel responded to the calling several terrestrial fire extinguishing teams from air bases to extinguish the fires, while the Search and Rescue Unit 669 made explorations with its helicoptersalong with a utilitarian plane Beechcraft King Air that made observations.
Source: Ambito
