Ahead of Lag B’Omer, comptroller warns PM that recent fires ‘must be a wake-up call’
Matanyahu Englman tells Netanyahu that major blazes outside Jerusalem ‘could have claimed dozens of lives,’ and underfunded Fire Service ‘cannot contend with the challenge alone’
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Thursday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Lag B’Omer, a Jewish holiday traditionally marked with bonfires, that the recent major blazes over Memorial Day and Independence Day last week “must be a wake-up call.”
“The fire service cannot contend with the challenge alone,” Englman wrote in a letter to Netanyahu, a week after conflagrations devastated areas outside Jerusalem and a week before Lag B’Omer will be marked around the country on May 15-16.
The most significant fire last week, in the area between Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, burned 20,000 dunams (5,000 acres) — including the vast majority of Canada Park — forcing several communities to evacuate and closing the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and other roads for hours. Nobody was seriously wounded, although more than a dozen people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns.
The fires and strong winds also led to the cancellation of the majority of Independence Day ceremonies and celebrations around the country, after the Fire Service said it could not secure any large gatherings with all its efforts focused on battling the blaze.
While some politicians sought to blame arsonists, the Fire Service has officially said it is still investigating the cause, and sources have indicated that negligence by hikers, coupled with high winds and dry weather, was to blame.
The recent fires “brought us to the brink of a disaster that could have claimed dozens of lives,” wrote Englman to Netanyahu, citing a preliminary assessment from the Israel Fire and Rescue Services.
The blaze must serve as “a wake-up call for the government, under your leadership, to undertake comprehensive preparedness for emergency events involving the Fire Services,” Englman continued, pointing to a predicted heatwave over the weekend and early next week with temperatures expected to hit 90°F (32°C).
The state comptroller said that climate change is likely to cause “more frequent, more extreme and more destructive weather-related events,” and therefore urgent government action is needed in order to “bridge the gaps” in the Fire and Rescue Services’ preparedness.
The Fire and Rescue Services on Thursday issued a nationwide ban on lighting fires in most open areas for Lag B’Omer, with the ban beginning on Friday and lasting through May 18. The regulations are similar to those issued in years past, which have also barred bonfires in open areas save for some locations that local authorities, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority or KKL-JNF have designated for the purpose of bonfires.
Englman and other authorities have long warned of deficiencies in preparedness for a major blaze. Israel’s worst blaze was the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire, which claimed the lives of 44 people — 37 prison cadets and their civilian driver, three police officers and three firefighters.
Shay Levy, the head of the fire authority’s research branch, told The Times of Israel last week that its budget must be doubled to enable it to cope with the “era of mega-fires” being driven by climate change.
“This time, all the fire services converged on the Jerusalem area,” he said at the time. “What happens if several major fire events erupt simultaneously and continue for a long time in different parts of the country?”
In July 2023, a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center noted that there were 123 fire stations nationwide, when 150 were needed, and 2,400 firefighter positions, when 3,366 were required.
However, instead of bolstering the fire service, the government cut its funding by NIS 217 million ($60 million) in March as part of the state budget.
Charlie Summers and Sue Surkes contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.