ISRAEL: Greek firefighters help fight huge forest fire in Mount Carmel

Record ID: 395829

  • Title: ISRAEL: Greek firefighters help fight huge forest fire in Mount Carmel
  • Date: 4th December 2010
  • Summary: RAMAT DAVID MILITARY CAMP, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 3, 2010) (REUTERS) ONE OF SEVEN GREEK PLANES DUE TO ARRIVE TO AID IN FIGHTING FOREST FIRE, TAXIING ON TARMAC VARIOUS OF GREEK FIREFIGHTERS AND ISRAELI OFFICERS AT AIR FORCE BASE MAJOR GENERAL IDO NACHUSTAN ISRAELI CO-ORDINATOR OF INTERNATIONAL RESCUE EFFORTS, TALKING TO GREEK COLLEAGUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR GENERAL ID
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA6X5S50IDHGHGX3NTQRJBZ68LF
  • Story Text: Firefighting aircraft from four countries flew in Israel on Friday (December 3) to help battle a huge forest fire close to the northern city of Haifa, that has killed at least 40 people and forced mass evacuations.
    Badly needed assistance was also due to arrive from several other states during the day as Israel struggled to contain the largest blaze in its history that torched woodland, destroyed homes and revealed major shortcomings in the emergency services.
    The fires are still not under control and the strong winds are making things worse, the chief of Israel's fire service, Shimon Romah, told Israel Radio.
    At the Ramat David military base, five out of seven Greek planes expected to arrive had landed and were getting ready to take off to assess the fire size and start efforts to extinguish it.
    "These aeroplanes, I hope, will be a significant contribution to the fight against the fire, these are aeroplanes that have the capacity that we don't have in this country and we hope to put them into operation very soon," Israeli Major General Ido Nachustan, who is charged with co-ordination international rescue efforts, said.
    "First we have to take off to go there and see the size of the fire. The operation works like we scooping water from the sea and dropping it into the fire," Captain Nickolas from the Greek airforce told Reuters.
    Firecrews from across Israel were mobilised on Thursday (December 2) to combat the fire, which was believed to have started in an illegal garbage dump. But they did not have the resources, especially water tanker planes, needed to tame the inferno.
    The sky glowed orange through the night near the major Mediterranean port of Haifa and as day broke, television pictures showed the fire was still raging across a broad front.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on a visit to the scene that Israel had suffered a disaster on a scale unseen before.
    International help arrived from Bulgaria, Jordan, Greece and Britain. Cypriot, Turkish and Russian planes were also en route, while flame retardant materials were being flown in from France, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
    He told Israel Radio the Russians were sending the biggest firefighting plane in the world - an Antonov - with huge firefighting capacity.
    At least 41 people died on Thursday, mainly prison service officer trainees, when their bus was engulfed in flames as they headed towards a prison to help evacuate 500 inmates to safety, emergency services said.
    More than 12,000 people were evacuated from towns and villages as the fires threatened hillside homes.
    U.S. President Barack Obama sent his condolences and said the United States would provide help.
    While Europe freezes in an early winter, Israel has had unseasonably hot weather in its driest November in 60 years.
    The fire started around midday on Thursday, and Israeli media was scathing about the inability of local emergency services to deal with such a disaster.
    Newspapers said experts had warned for years that fire crews lacked the resources needed to combat major conflagrations, which could have dire consequences in war.
    Yesterday it turned out that Israel is not prepared for war or a mass terrorist strike that would cause many casualties in the home front, Haaretz newspaper said in a front page commentary.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register