Highlights
“Today (Sunday, December 5), we finally achieved control of the fire fronts in all the KKLactive areas,” said Dr. Omri Bonneh, director of KKL-JNF’s Northern Region, who took time out from overseeing KKL-JNF firefighting activities in the Carmel Forest to update a group of local and foreign journalists on efforts to curb the raging inferno that broke out last Thursday. “This was, by far, the worst fire Israel has ever experienced. It was devastating – 42,000 dunams (4,200 hectares) of natural woodlands and planted forest were burned, and 42 people were killed. To put things in perspective, during the Second Lebanese War, which lasted 34 days, when northern Israel was bombarded by Katyusha rockets, 18,000 dunams went up in flames. This fire will be a turning point in terms of the Israeli government’s approach to fire fighting. I can honestly say that if not for the fleet of international fire planes that provided aerial assistance to the firefighters on the ground, I don’t think we could have brought this fire under control.
“The fire spread very rapidly, due to dry weather, brush and extended summer. We should have had 200-300 mms. of rain by now, but, probably due to climate change caused by global warming, the winter hasn’t even begun yet. I cannot describe the intensity of the flames, which reached heights of 30-40 meters. You can’t stop such a fire directly, only from the sides or from behind it.
The source article \"For Us, Every Tree is like a Baby\" .
