Arson suspected in Israeli fires
A TEL AVIV: Firefighters yesterday reined in a blaze that had spread across the country’s third-largest city of Haifa and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, but continued to battle more than a dozen other fires around the country for the fourth day in a row.
Some of the 60,000 evacuated began trickling back to their charred homes to assess the damage as police and firefighting units remained heavily deployed in the Haifa area for fear that the fire could be reignited due to the dry, windy weather.
Though no injuries were caused, several dozen people have been hospitalised for smoke inhalation.
Hundreds of homes were damaged and in a rare move, Israel on Thursday called up military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters, and made use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by several countries.
A Boeing 747-400 Supertanker, the world’s largest firefighting aircraft
over the bush in Haifa yesterday. capable of carrying 75 tonnes of fire retardant, is scheduled to arrive later to help in the efforts.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a small village in the forests near Jerusalem was evacuated. Other small fires were under control. Overall, he said 12 people had been arrested on suspicion of arson.
The country’s leaders have raised the possibility that Arab assailants had intentionally set the blazes.
Israel’s police chief Roni Alsheich said on Thursday early indications pointed towards a series of “politically motivated” attacks.
The fires began three days ago at the Neve Shalom community near Jerusalem, where Israelis and Arabs live together. The fires were the worst since 2010, when Israel suffered its deadliest wildfire.
That blaze burned for four days, killing 42 people and was extinguished after firefighting aircraft arrived from the United States. AP