Hundreds of acres of land in Israel’s richly-forested northern region went up in smoke over the Sabbath, with some 5,000 Israeli residents evacuated from their homes in the town of Nof HaGalil Saturday morning as wildfires raged across the northern region.
More than 740 acres of forest were burnt to the ground in the flames of the wildfires, over the Simchat Torah holiday.
Efforts to fight the flames continued throughout the day, said a spokesperson for Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service. Members of the Jewish National Fund of the Lower Galilee volunteered to help emergency services forces extinguish the flames, as aerial firefighters used water drops to put out the fires from above.
On Friday, several of the fires began in central Israel as the Jewish State wilted under a massive heat wave, particularly in Lapidot, Margaliot and Umm al-Kutuf. Firefighters also battled flames in Bahan and Mevo Dotan, where residents were also evacuated.
By the end of the holiday of Simchat Torah, more than 740 acres of forest had burnt to the ground.
Forest Fires Also Rage in Syria, Lebanon
Massive forest fires that have destroyed huge swaths of land in Syria killed at least three people this weekend and injured 70 others who were taken to hospitals with smoke inhalation.
(H/T Global Raw Footage)
The fires burned across wide areas of coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces, and into central Homs province as well, according to Aljazeera.
There were also more than 100 fires in Lebanon since Thursday, where the flames raged in forests along the southern border with Israel.
Lebanon’s Civil Defense Operations chief George Abu Musa told the AFP news agency, “The situation is crazy, there are fires everywhere. We have mobilized 80 percent of our personnel and almost all our centers in Lebanon.”
Most of the fires, he said, had been extinguished but there were some that were still burning in the southern mountainous region, and in Akkar in the north.