ISRAEL: Residents of Kibbutz Beit Oren risk their lives to protect properties, as fires rage throughout the area

Record ID: 396537

  • Title: ISRAEL: Residents of Kibbutz Beit Oren risk their lives to protect properties, as fires rage throughout the area
  • Date: 4th December 2010
  • Summary: KIBBUTZ BEIT OREN, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 3, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIRE DAMAGE IN KIBBUTZ (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) KIBBUTZ BEIT OREN RESIDENT, ALON SAYING: "Although we were asked to evacuate, we stayed here to guard our properties. It really hurts us, and people are tied to this place, and it's hard to leave." VARIOUS OF SMOKE FIRE ENGINE HIGHWAY FIRE FIGHTERS EXTINGUIS
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVAFEBGRIWPOILGV3UU4470V0Q8
  • Story Text: Residents of Kibbutz Beit Oren defied orders to evacuate their homes on Friday (December 3), preferring to stay and protect their property from looting. Many of the houses in Kibbutz Beit Oren have been damaged by the fires.
    "Although we were asked to evacuate, we stayed here to guard our properties. It really hurts us and people are tied to this place, and it's hard to leave," Kibbutz resident, Alon said.
    Firefighting teams from around the world flew into Israel 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.
    Planes and helicopters repeatedly swooped over the burning woodland, dumping scooped-up sea water onto the flames below, but officials conceded that the blaze was still out of control more than 24 hours after it started.
    The largest fire in Israel's history scorched more than 7,000 acres of land, destroyed houses and revealed major shortcomings in the ability of local emergency services to tackle such a disaster.
    Israel appealed for international help on Thursday and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Greece, Cyprus, Britain, Jordan, Bulgaria and Russia had all heeded the call, as well as Turkey, which laid aside recent diplomatic strains to send aid.
    Egypt, Azerbaijan, Spain, Croatia, France had also offered contributions, with Israel waking up to the fact that it had few effective means of its own to tackle the inferno.
    A huge pall of smoke was clearly visible from the Mediterranean port of Haifa, just to the north of the fire, and authorities ordered the evacuation of some 15,000 residents around the Carmel Ridge, where the blaze was focused.
    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.
    Witnesses said the coach was confronted by a wall of fire and was unable to do a U-turn on a winding, hill road, giving its passengers no chance to escape.
    The first of the victims were buried on Friday and there was barely concealed fury that so many people should have died in a country that carries out regular drills to rehearse for attack from its many enemies and spends billions of dollars on arms.
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