Mount Carmel forest fire (2010)
Encyclopedia
The Mount Carmel forest fire (Hebrew
: אסון הכרמל Ason Ha'Karmel, "The Carmel Disaster") was a deadly forest fire
that started on Mount Carmel
in northern Israel
, just south of Haifa
. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest
covering the region. The fire claimed at least 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service
officer cadets, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police. More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage.
The fire appeared to be caused by human activity near the Druze
town of Isfiya
. On 6 December a 14-year-old resident of the town told police that he had inadvertently started the fire with a nargila coal. The teen's father argued that his son was witnessed in school at the time and could not have started the blaze.
The fire was followed by a wave of arson
s throughout Israel and the West Bank
. These fires, which initially created confusion regarding the source of the Carmel blaze, were all extinguished within a few hours of being lit. The motivation for the attacks was not immediately clear. Israeli police have referred to some of these fires as arson.
Government officials, including Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
and Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman, called on other countries to help assist in firefighting efforts, and the Israel Defense Forces
mobilized troops for the same purpose. The fire was defeated on 5 December after raging for four days.
which destroyed about 3,200 dunams (790 acres) of forest.
Israel had been experiencing an unusually warm autumn and dry conditions; previous spring and summer months were also exceptionally hot. It was originally speculated that the fire was caused by the burning of an illegal garbage dump and spread due to the dry conditions and strong winds. Haifa's Mayor Yona Yahav
stated that the problem was known and it was "just a matter of time until a calamity occurred".
Israel Police
suggested that the fire was caused due to a bonfire that was lit by local residents and not extinguished properly and in time. However, they stressed that the investigation of the incident is in its early phases and cautioned against drawing premature conclusions. On 4 December, police arrested two adolescent brothers from the Druze
town of Isfiya
on suspicion of having caused the fire through negligence. Their family denies the accusation. On 5 December, the Haifa Magistrate Court extended the brothers' remand for three days, and on 6 December the court released them from custody under restrictive conditions. There were unconfirmed reports of the teens having hurled burning waste products during a picnic. The same day, police announced that they had arrested two additional youths from Isfiya the previous night, and that more arrests could be expected soon.
In the evening of 6 December, police announced that a 14 year-old resident of Isfiya admitted to inadvertently starting the fire. The teen told investigators that after smoking a nargila, he threw a lit coal into an open area and was so shocked by the result that he returned to school without telling anyone what he had done.
Druze Member of Knesset
Ayoob Kara
, a resident of Isfiya near where the fire broke out, had said on the evening of 2 December that he had received information that the fire was a terror act
. MKs Ya'akov Katz
and Michael Ben-Ari
also cited the possibility that the fire was an act of terrorism and called for an investigation.
cadets came to assist, but caught fire on its way. Several Police officers and a number of firefighters who were behind the bus were also injured and some were killed, including Commander Ahuva Tomer, head of the Haifa police station and the first woman to hold such a major command; Tomer suffered severe burns and died in hospital on December 6. A prison service cadet who was badly burned in the incident died in hospital on December 11 and a firefighter who had been hospitalized with serious burns died on December 18.
An initial investigation showed that a tree fell down on the road, trapping the bus in a fireball. According to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich
, after the vehicle caught fire, the driver was injured and lost control. While performing a U-turn on the narrow road the bus caught fire and the cadets tried to escape the burning vehicle. The back door would not open due to the extreme heat but was eventually broken through, enabling some cadets to flee the burning bus; however, those who fled encountered the intense blaze outside. An officer and two cadets were able to escape and were picked up by a passing motorist, who then drove through the fire to safety. Most of the IPS officers and cadets had been in their 20s and 30s, and several were Druze
. The incident is the country's deadliest single peacetime
event involving security forces
.
attempted to contain the blaze, and were assisted Israeli volunteer firefighters and the Israel Police
. In addition, the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) sent two battalions to assist with the extinguishing of the fire and various evacuations. It also sent heavy ground equipment from nearby military bases, including firetrucks, water tanks, cranes
, D9
bulldozer
s and other equipment. The Israeli Air Force
used an unmanned aerial vehicle
for reconnaissance and intelligence collection. Use of other aircraft was prohibited because of a decade-old decision that prohibits military aircraft from being used in such a situation.
Israel requested help from various countries, including the United States
. Turkey
and Greece
offered to send assistance to fight the fire. Greece was the first country to respond, sending 4 CL-415 aircraft supported by 1 C-130H with technicians and equipment to Ramat David Airbase
. Greece also sent 1 more CL-415 and 1 C-130H with firefighters the next day. Turkey
sent two firefighting aircraft, which started to extinguish fire in the early hours of December 3. The Netherlands
sent four fire extinguisher-aircraft
, which could do their job as early as Monday, the 6th of December, since Benjamin Netanyahu
asked the Netherlands, as well as Belgium
, Germany
, Finland
, Norway
, and Russia
specifically for help. The Swiss Air Force
provided three Cougar Helicopter with fire fighting capabilities. Cyprus
dispatched a helicopter and a plane to assist in the fire-fighting effort. Russia sent one Ilyushin Il-76
(capable of holding up to forty tons of water) and two Be-200 special firefighting planes. Countries that offered help include Azerbaijan
, Bulgaria
, Croatia
, Cyprus
, France
, Jordan
, Romania
, Spain
with four seaplanes and the United Kingdom
who sent two Royal Air Force
helicopters. Italy
and Egypt
also offered firefighting planes.
Netanyahu said he had a “warm” discussion with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
, who offered any assistance he could to help Israel with the fire, even though the U.S. was trying to restart peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians
that broke down in September over the issue of construction West Bank settlements. The Palestinian Authority sent several fire trucks to help extinguish fires near the Israeli-Arab localities of Tayibe
and Barta'a
; on Sunday, December 5, 21 Palestinian firefighters joined the efforts in the Carmel Forest area itself. Senior Palestinian Authority security official Ahmed Rizek Abu Rabia said: "This is a human catastrophe. The Palestinian side is offering all the help it can through official channels."
On Dec 4th, the Israeli government decided to hire Evergreen's Boeing 747 Supertanker to help extinguish the blaze. The plane landed at 01:00 at Ben Gurion International Airport
. The plane took off and at about 11:00 it released its first cargo of water. Later in the day it made a second sortie, dropping fire retardant.
The Turkish assistance was considered surprising, due to the strain on the Turkish-Israeli relationship since the Turkish-Gaza flotilla raid
.
At a Security Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu
thanked Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
(and others) for their offer to help, saying he "hopes this will be the beginning of better relations between our two countries".
, estimated that 1.5 million trees burnt in the fire. However, another 4 million trees have reportedly burned since then. According to officials, nearly half of the 150000 metric dunam (15,000 ha; 37,065.8 acre) of the Carmel Forest reserve have been destroyed in the fire. Officials say it could take dozens of years to rehabilitate the area.
Over 17,000 people were evacuated on December 2 as a result of the fire, including 6,500 from Tirat Carmel
and 3,000 from Haifa
. Villages evacuated include Kibbutz Beit Oren
, Ein Hod
and Nir Etzion
, which were severely impacted by the fire. The University of Haifa
was also evacuated, as well as three prisons (Carmel, Prison Six
, and Damun) and the Tirat Carmel
Mental Hospital. Other institutions included the Carmel Forest Hotel and the Carmel Farm.
The casualty information center opened for the first time since the 2006 Lebanon War.
An editorial in the Jerusalem Post called these arson cases "homegrown terrorism
".
The same day, two men in their 30s from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel
were apprehended by police and were suspected of hurling Molotov cocktails in a forest on a Carmel mountain hilltop, but were released once it was established that they had no connection to the original fire, and police said that no wrongdoing was established with certainty.
A small fire that erupted in Haifa's Neve Yosef neighborhood in the afternoon was extinguished by midnight.
, causing no reported injuries or damage. Police suspected arson.
A brush fire that broke out in the Jerusalem Forest
at about 13:00 burned 2.5 dunams of forest and open land. Firefighters and police extinguished the blaze within several hours. After hikers nearby reported two suspects fleeing from the area where the fire started, police were treating the incident as arson and opened an investigation. At night, an Arab citizen of Israel and a Palestinian were arrested after allegedly trying to start a fire near Jerusalem. The two tried to escape by car and were apprehended after a short chase.
Various fires broke out in open areas and woodland areas in the West Bank
during the day, and were extinguished by Israeli and Palestinian Authority firefighters. One of these was a fire that broke out in a woodland area near Neve Tzuf. The firefighting services said that the blazes were probably acts of arson.
Additional suspicious fires erupted in Kiryat Tiv'on, in the vicinity of Adi
, at Route 70 by Bat Shelomo, at Beit Rimon
Junction in the vicinity of Nazareth
, and near Mashhad
.
, declared a national day of mourning
, while events celebrating of Hanukkah
were canceled in Haifa
.
The President of the United States
, Barack Obama
, offered his condolences: "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in Israel who is affected by this tragedy and the family and loved ones of those in harm’s way."
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
of the United Kingdom
, William Hague
, posted a message on Twitter
saying "[I offer] condolences to the families of those killed in forest fires in Israel."
According to Israeli news website Ynetnews
, "Many Arab media outlets have been taking advantage of Israel's fire disaster to disparage the Jewish state and rejoice over its misfortune." Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
reported in The Jerusalem Post
, based on a survey of comments from readers on Arabic sites, that many Arabs called on Israel’s enemies, particularly Iran
, Hamas
and Hezbullah, to use the opportunity presented by the disaster to wipe Israel off the face of earth
. Other Arabs condemned Egypt
and Jordan
for agreeing to help put out the conflagration.
Hamas
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told Reuters
: "These are plagues from God. Allah
is punishing [the Israelis] from a place they did not expect." Ynetnews
said that a Palestinian official identified with Islamic Jihad as criticising those "whose hearts fill with compassion for the Zionist disaster. There is no need to tell you how delighted we are that more than 40 cadets who tortured prisoners were killed in this fire. We never met with your compassion when Israel attacked us. Let the fire consume this spider state." However, Ynetnews
quoted Palestinian official Ahmed Rizek Abu Rabia as saying, "This is a human catastrophe. The Palestinian side is offering all the help it can through official channels." Additionally, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey also reportedly sent aid.
Hezbollah-run Lebanese media outlet Al-Manar
said that the fire signaled Israeli vulnerability to war and mass terrorism: "The great Carmel fire has embarrassed Israel's firefighting capabilities and proved its almost complete incompetence. The enormous blaze that broke out on the Carmel proved that Israel is not prepared for war or a mass terrorist strike that would cause many casualties in the home front."
The Jerusalem Post
stated in an editorial that several copy-cat fires were carried out for political reasons by Arab Israeli terrorists.
A few weeks after the fire, Israeli firefighters expressed disappointment with the Israeli government for not including extra money in the state budget for the next two years to bolster up Israel's firefighting capabilities.
inaugurated 249 Squadron, a new aerial firefighting unit. At the day of its inauguration, the unit, based at Sde Dov Airport
, operated seven Air Tractor AT-802
aircraft.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: אסון הכרמל Ason Ha'Karmel, "The Carmel Disaster") was a deadly forest fire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
that started on Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel ; , Kármēlos; , Kurmul or جبل مار إلياس Jabal Mar Elyas 'Mount Saint Elias') is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt. Carmel...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, just south of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near some seas, as near San Francisco, which have a sea of cool waters...
covering the region. The fire claimed at least 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service
Israel Prison Service
The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the prison service of Israel. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as detention centers for security prisoners. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security...
officer cadets, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police. More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage.
The fire appeared to be caused by human activity near the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
town of Isfiya
Isfiya
Isfiya , also known as Ussefiya, is a Druze village and local council in northern Israel. Located on Mount Carmel, it is part of Haifa District. In 2009 it had a population of 25,400. In 2003, the local council was merged with nearby Daliyat al-Karmel to form Carmel City...
. On 6 December a 14-year-old resident of the town told police that he had inadvertently started the fire with a nargila coal. The teen's father argued that his son was witnessed in school at the time and could not have started the blaze.
The fire was followed by a wave of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
s throughout Israel and the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. These fires, which initially created confusion regarding the source of the Carmel blaze, were all extinguished within a few hours of being lit. The motivation for the attacks was not immediately clear. Israeli police have referred to some of these fires as arson.
Government officials, including Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
and Foreign Minister
Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is one of the most important in the Israeli cabinet after Prime Minister and Defense Minister...
Avigdor Lieberman, called on other countries to help assist in firefighting efforts, and the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
mobilized troops for the same purpose. The fire was defeated on 5 December after raging for four days.
Causes
Mount Carmel contains large areas of forests, including large numbers of Aleppo pine trees, which are more easily ignited. Over the years, many fires have occurred on Mount Carmel, among them many which devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. One such as that was the Mount Carmel forest fire of 1989Mount Carmel forest fire (1989)
The Mount Carmel forest fire was a forest fire that occurred between 19 and 22 September 1989 on Mount Carmel in northern Israel and was one of the largest forest fires in Israel, the largest being the Mount Carmel forest fire of 2010....
which destroyed about 3,200 dunams (790 acres) of forest.
Israel had been experiencing an unusually warm autumn and dry conditions; previous spring and summer months were also exceptionally hot. It was originally speculated that the fire was caused by the burning of an illegal garbage dump and spread due to the dry conditions and strong winds. Haifa's Mayor Yona Yahav
Yona Yahav
Yona Yahav is an Israeli lawyer and politician. Formerly a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party, he is currently mayor of Haifa.-Biography:...
stated that the problem was known and it was "just a matter of time until a calamity occurred".
Israel Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
suggested that the fire was caused due to a bonfire that was lit by local residents and not extinguished properly and in time. However, they stressed that the investigation of the incident is in its early phases and cautioned against drawing premature conclusions. On 4 December, police arrested two adolescent brothers from the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
town of Isfiya
Isfiya
Isfiya , also known as Ussefiya, is a Druze village and local council in northern Israel. Located on Mount Carmel, it is part of Haifa District. In 2009 it had a population of 25,400. In 2003, the local council was merged with nearby Daliyat al-Karmel to form Carmel City...
on suspicion of having caused the fire through negligence. Their family denies the accusation. On 5 December, the Haifa Magistrate Court extended the brothers' remand for three days, and on 6 December the court released them from custody under restrictive conditions. There were unconfirmed reports of the teens having hurled burning waste products during a picnic. The same day, police announced that they had arrested two additional youths from Isfiya the previous night, and that more arrests could be expected soon.
In the evening of 6 December, police announced that a 14 year-old resident of Isfiya admitted to inadvertently starting the fire. The teen told investigators that after smoking a nargila, he threw a lit coal into an open area and was so shocked by the result that he returned to school without telling anyone what he had done.
Druze Member of Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
Ayoob Kara
Ayoob Kara
Ayoob Kara is a Druze Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Likud and Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee. He lives in Isfiya, Haifa District....
, a resident of Isfiya near where the fire broke out, had said on the evening of 2 December that he had received information that the fire was a terror act
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. MKs Ya'akov Katz
Ya'akov Katz (politician born 1951)
Ya’akov Dov "Katzele" Katz is an Israeli politician. He currently leads the National Union party, for whom he is a member of the Knesset, and is also the Executive Director of Beit El yeshiva Center Institutions and Arutz Sheva....
and Michael Ben-Ari
Michael Ben-Ari
Michael Ben-Ari is an Israeli politician, and a current member of the Knesset for the National Union party. He is the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to be elected to the Knesset. He has a Ph.D in Land of Israel studies.-Biography:...
also cited the possibility that the fire was an act of terrorism and called for an investigation.
Fatalities
The fire claimed 44 lives. Thirty-seven were prison service officers course cadets and their commanding officers, who were on the way to Damun Prison to evacuate its prisoners from the path of the flames. Their bus driver also perished, as did three senior police officers, two firefighters, and 16-year-old volunteer firefighter. On December 4, it was announced that all of the victims had been identified.Prison service bus incident
After the fire started on December 2, the Damun Prison in the area of the fire called for reinforcements in order to evacuate prisoners. A bus carrying Israel Prison ServiceIsrael Prison Service
The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the prison service of Israel. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as detention centers for security prisoners. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security...
cadets came to assist, but caught fire on its way. Several Police officers and a number of firefighters who were behind the bus were also injured and some were killed, including Commander Ahuva Tomer, head of the Haifa police station and the first woman to hold such a major command; Tomer suffered severe burns and died in hospital on December 6. A prison service cadet who was badly burned in the incident died in hospital on December 11 and a firefighter who had been hospitalized with serious burns died on December 18.
An initial investigation showed that a tree fell down on the road, trapping the bus in a fireball. According to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich
Yitzhak Aharonovich
-External links:...
, after the vehicle caught fire, the driver was injured and lost control. While performing a U-turn on the narrow road the bus caught fire and the cadets tried to escape the burning vehicle. The back door would not open due to the extreme heat but was eventually broken through, enabling some cadets to flee the burning bus; however, those who fled encountered the intense blaze outside. An officer and two cadets were able to escape and were picked up by a passing motorist, who then drove through the fire to safety. Most of the IPS officers and cadets had been in their 20s and 30s, and several were Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
. The incident is the country's deadliest single peacetime
Peacetime
In politics, peacetime is defined as any period of time where there are no violent conflicts occurring. For example, the time after World War II is considered peacetime in Western Europe and the United States....
event involving security forces
Israeli Security Forces
Security forces in Israel include a variety of organizations, including law enforcement, military, paramilitary, governmental, and intelligence agencies.-Military:...
.
Extinguishing the fire
The Israel Fire and Rescue ServicesIsrael Fire and Rescue Services
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services is the Israeli state organization for fire fighting and rescuing. The organisation also provides rescue services from terror attacks, car accident and dangerous substance spillages, along with Magen David Adom, the National EMS. They are also involved in public...
attempted to contain the blaze, and were assisted Israeli volunteer firefighters and the Israel Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
. In addition, the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) sent two battalions to assist with the extinguishing of the fire and various evacuations. It also sent heavy ground equipment from nearby military bases, including firetrucks, water tanks, cranes
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
, D9
IDF Caterpillar D9
The Israeli Armored CAT D9 — nicknamed Doobi — is a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer that was modified by the Israel Defence Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the armored bulldozer in hostile environments and enable it...
bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s and other equipment. The Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
used an unmanned aerial vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
for reconnaissance and intelligence collection. Use of other aircraft was prohibited because of a decade-old decision that prohibits military aircraft from being used in such a situation.
Israel requested help from various countries, including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
offered to send assistance to fight the fire. Greece was the first country to respond, sending 4 CL-415 aircraft supported by 1 C-130H with technicians and equipment to Ramat David Airbase
Ramat David Airbase
Ramat David Israeli Air Force Base is one of three principal airbases of the Israeli Air Force, located southeast of Haifa, close to kibbutz Ramat David and Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley...
. Greece also sent 1 more CL-415 and 1 C-130H with firefighters the next day. Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
sent two firefighting aircraft, which started to extinguish fire in the early hours of December 3. The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
sent four fire extinguisher-aircraft
Aerial firefighting
Aerial firefighting is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing...
, which could do their job as early as Monday, the 6th of December, since Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
asked the Netherlands, as well as Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
specifically for help. The Swiss Air Force
Swiss Air Force
The Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on July 31, 1914, as part of the Army and as of January 1966 an independent service.In peacetime, Dübendorf is the operational Air Force HQ...
provided three Cougar Helicopter with fire fighting capabilities. Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
dispatched a helicopter and a plane to assist in the fire-fighting effort. Russia sent one Ilyushin Il-76
Ilyushin Il-76
The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas...
(capable of holding up to forty tons of water) and two Be-200 special firefighting planes. Countries that offered help include Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
with four seaplanes and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
who sent two Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
helicopters. Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
also offered firefighting planes.
Netanyahu said he had a “warm” discussion with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
, who offered any assistance he could to help Israel with the fire, even though the U.S. was trying to restart peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in 2010
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have been taking place since September 2010, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ended when Netanyahu refused to extend...
that broke down in September over the issue of construction West Bank settlements. The Palestinian Authority sent several fire trucks to help extinguish fires near the Israeli-Arab localities of Tayibe
Tayibe
Tayibe is an Israeli Arab city in central Israel, 12 kilometers east of Kfar Saba. In 2007, it had a population of 36,800. Tayibe is part of the Triangle.-History:...
and Barta'a
Barta'a
Barta'a is a town that straddles both sides of the Green Line and the Wadi Ara region.Western Barta'a is in the Haifa District of Israel, and forms part of the Basma local council...
; on Sunday, December 5, 21 Palestinian firefighters joined the efforts in the Carmel Forest area itself. Senior Palestinian Authority security official Ahmed Rizek Abu Rabia said: "This is a human catastrophe. The Palestinian side is offering all the help it can through official channels."
On Dec 4th, the Israeli government decided to hire Evergreen's Boeing 747 Supertanker to help extinguish the blaze. The plane landed at 01:00 at Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010...
. The plane took off and at about 11:00 it released its first cargo of water. Later in the day it made a second sortie, dropping fire retardant.
The Turkish assistance was considered surprising, due to the strain on the Turkish-Israeli relationship since the Turkish-Gaza flotilla raid
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
At a Security Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
thanked Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
(and others) for their offer to help, saying he "hopes this will be the beginning of better relations between our two countries".
Environmental and property damage
The fire has caused widespread damage to property, as well as ecological damage. It initially spread very quickly because of the wind, and cut off power to houses in the vicinity. At least 40000 metric dunam (4,000 ha; 9,884.2 acre) of forest were destroyed, and damage was caused to the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve. Omri Bone, the Northern Region Director of the Jewish National FundJewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, estimated that 1.5 million trees burnt in the fire. However, another 4 million trees have reportedly burned since then. According to officials, nearly half of the 150000 metric dunam (15,000 ha; 37,065.8 acre) of the Carmel Forest reserve have been destroyed in the fire. Officials say it could take dozens of years to rehabilitate the area.
Over 17,000 people were evacuated on December 2 as a result of the fire, including 6,500 from Tirat Carmel
Tirat Carmel
Tirat Carmel , or Tirat HaCarmel, is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2007 the city had a total population of 18,700....
and 3,000 from Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. Villages evacuated include Kibbutz Beit Oren
Beit Oren
Beit Oren is a kibbutz in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council.-Geography:Kibbutz Beit Oren is located in the heart of Carmel mountain range, right next to the Carmel Nature Reserve national park, an area often called "little Switzerland".-History:In...
, Ein Hod
Ein Hod
Ein Hod is a communal settlement in northern Israel. Located south of Mount Carmel and southeast of Haifa in northern Israel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2008 it had a population of 559....
and Nir Etzion
Nir Etzion
Nir Etzion is a religious moshav shitufi in northern Israel. Located between Ein Hod and Ein Hawd near Atlit, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council...
, which were severely impacted by the fire. The University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
was also evacuated, as well as three prisons (Carmel, Prison Six
Prison Six
Prison Six , officially Confinement Base 396 is an Israeli military prison located near Atlit, Israel, on Oren Junction.It is the second military prison for IDF soldiers, after Prison Four in Tzrifin . Prison Six can contain about 350 prisoners.Prison Six generally contains prisoners from the...
, and Damun) and the Tirat Carmel
Tirat Carmel
Tirat Carmel , or Tirat HaCarmel, is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2007 the city had a total population of 18,700....
Mental Hospital. Other institutions included the Carmel Forest Hotel and the Carmel Farm.
The casualty information center opened for the first time since the 2006 Lebanon War.
Related arson attacks
In the days following the outbreak of the blaze, other fires erupted sporadically far from the main site, causing police to raise its alert level nationwide. Investigators concluded that arsonists were attempting to "hitch a ride" on the Carmel fire. Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen stated at a press conference on 3 December that “there have been a number of arson attacks in the northern district". Police sources estimated that arsonists were attempting to distract forces dealing with the Carmel fire by producing additional emergency events.An editorial in the Jerusalem Post called these arson cases "homegrown terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
".
December 3
A fire broke out in the Tzur Shalom industrial zone in Kiryat Bialik, forcing the evacuation of a nearby factory. Firefighters extinguished the blaze within several hours. Police reported finding a bicycle and a bag containing a wig near the area, increasing suspicions that arson was involved.The same day, two men in their 30s from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel
Daliyat al-Karmel
Daliyat al-Karmel is a Druze local council in the North District of Israel, located around 20 km southeast of Haifa.-History:The town was given local council status in 1951. However, in 2003 it was merged with nearby Isfiya to create Carmel City...
were apprehended by police and were suspected of hurling Molotov cocktails in a forest on a Carmel mountain hilltop, but were released once it was established that they had no connection to the original fire, and police said that no wrongdoing was established with certainty.
A small fire that erupted in Haifa's Neve Yosef neighborhood in the afternoon was extinguished by midnight.
December 4
A fire erupted near the northern Bedouin village of Basmat Tab'unBasmat Tab'un
Basmat Tab'un is a Bedouin local council in the North District of Israel. It was declared as a local council in 1965. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics it had a population of 6,300 in 2006, with a growth rate of 3.3%. The majority of the citizens of Basmat Tab'un are Bedouin...
, causing no reported injuries or damage. Police suspected arson.
A brush fire that broke out in the Jerusalem Forest
Jerusalem Forest
The Jerusalem Forest is a pine forest located in the Judean Mountains west of Jerusalem. It is surrounded by the Jerusalem neighborhoods Beit HaKerem, Yefe Nof, Ein Kerem, Har Nof, Givat Shaul, and a moshav, Beit Zeit. The forest was planted during the 1950s by the Jewish National Fund, financed by...
at about 13:00 burned 2.5 dunams of forest and open land. Firefighters and police extinguished the blaze within several hours. After hikers nearby reported two suspects fleeing from the area where the fire started, police were treating the incident as arson and opened an investigation. At night, an Arab citizen of Israel and a Palestinian were arrested after allegedly trying to start a fire near Jerusalem. The two tried to escape by car and were apprehended after a short chase.
Various fires broke out in open areas and woodland areas in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
during the day, and were extinguished by Israeli and Palestinian Authority firefighters. One of these was a fire that broke out in a woodland area near Neve Tzuf. The firefighting services said that the blazes were probably acts of arson.
Additional suspicious fires erupted in Kiryat Tiv'on, in the vicinity of Adi
Adi, Israel
Adi is a communal settlement in northern Israel. It is named after the nearby Biblical settlement of Hali in the tribe of Asher, mentioned in Joshua 19:25. Located near Shefa-'Amr, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council...
, at Route 70 by Bat Shelomo, at Beit Rimon
Beit Rimon
Beit Rimon is a religious kibbutz in Israel. It is named after the Biblical Rimon in the Tribe of Zebulun . Located in the Lower Galilee on a ridge of mount Toraan at a height of 400 meters above sea level, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council...
Junction in the vicinity of Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, and near Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
.
Reactions
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
, declared a national day of mourning
National day of mourning
A national day of mourning is a day marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by that nation's government...
, while events celebrating of Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
were canceled in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
.
The President of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, offered his condolences: "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in Israel who is affected by this tragedy and the family and loved ones of those in harm’s way."
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
, posted a message on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
saying "[I offer] condolences to the families of those killed in forest fires in Israel."
According to Israeli news website Ynetnews
Ynetnews
Ynetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...
, "Many Arab media outlets have been taking advantage of Israel's fire disaster to disparage the Jewish state and rejoice over its misfortune." Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh is a Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988...
reported in The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, based on a survey of comments from readers on Arabic sites, that many Arabs called on Israel’s enemies, particularly Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and Hezbullah, to use the opportunity presented by the disaster to wipe Israel off the face of earth
Policide
Policide is a neologism used in political science to describe the intentional destruction of a city or nation.-Origin:Writer Michael Walzer credits the origin of the term "policide" to Abba Eban, Israel's foreign minister in 1967.Similarly, professor Steve J...
. Other Arabs condemned Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
for agreeing to help put out the conflagration.
Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
: "These are plagues from God. Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
is punishing [the Israelis] from a place they did not expect." Ynetnews
Ynetnews
Ynetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...
said that a Palestinian official identified with Islamic Jihad as criticising those "whose hearts fill with compassion for the Zionist disaster. There is no need to tell you how delighted we are that more than 40 cadets who tortured prisoners were killed in this fire. We never met with your compassion when Israel attacked us. Let the fire consume this spider state." However, Ynetnews
Ynetnews
Ynetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...
quoted Palestinian official Ahmed Rizek Abu Rabia as saying, "This is a human catastrophe. The Palestinian side is offering all the help it can through official channels." Additionally, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey also reportedly sent aid.
Hezbollah-run Lebanese media outlet Al-Manar
Al-Manar
Al-Manar is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, registered as Lebanese Media Group Company, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon. It has an offering a "rich menu" of high production news, commentary, and entertainment. The self-proclaimed "Station of the Resistance" ,...
said that the fire signaled Israeli vulnerability to war and mass terrorism: "The great Carmel fire has embarrassed Israel's firefighting capabilities and proved its almost complete incompetence. The enormous blaze that broke out on the Carmel proved that Israel is not prepared for war or a mass terrorist strike that would cause many casualties in the home front."
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
stated in an editorial that several copy-cat fires were carried out for political reasons by Arab Israeli terrorists.
A few weeks after the fire, Israeli firefighters expressed disappointment with the Israeli government for not including extra money in the state budget for the next two years to bolster up Israel's firefighting capabilities.
Consequences
As a result of the fire, the Israel Fire and Rescue Services adopted a new doctrine for fighting forest fires. On May 12, 2011, the Israeli Air ForceIsraeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
inaugurated 249 Squadron, a new aerial firefighting unit. At the day of its inauguration, the unit, based at Sde Dov Airport
Sde Dov Airport
Sde Dov Airport , also known as Dov Hoz Airport is an airport located in Tel Aviv, Israel which mainly handles scheduled domestic flights to Eilat and , northern Israel , and the Israeli Golan Heights. It is Tel Aviv's largest airport and the second largest in the area, after Ben Gurion...
, operated seven Air Tractor AT-802
Air Tractor AT-802
|-Specifications :-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Jackson, Paul. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 2003–2004. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Information Group, 2003. ISBN 0-7106-2537-5.* Keijsper, Gerard...
aircraft.
External links
- First day of Mount Carmel fire, 2010 December 2, Second day of Mount Carmel fire, 2010 December 3, Third day of Mount Carmel fire, 2010 December 4 -- Videos captured by security cameras located at the Laboratory of ClimatologyClimatologyClimatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
at the University of HaifaUniversity of HaifaThe University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
campus at Mount Carmel and directed south-west, overlooking the forest fire.