Brush blaze briefly threatens Kiryat Shmona

None hurt as fire crews race to northern border town; local college and industrial park evacuated by police

By ToI Staff 19 July 2015, 11:01 pm
Firefighters trying to extinguish a large fire that broke out near Kiryat Shmona, July 19, 2015, causing residents in the area to evacuate their homes. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Firefighter planes try to extinguish a large fire raging near Kiryat Shmona, July 19, 2015. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Firefighters trying to extinguish a large fire that broke out near Kiryat Shmona, July 19, 2015, causing residents in the area to evacuate their homes. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Firefighters trying to extinguish a large fire that broke out near Kiryat Shmona, July 19, 2015, causing residents in the area to evacuate their homes. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Illustrative photo of firefighter planes extinguishing a large fire near Kiryat Shmona, on July 19, 2015. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

A raging wildfire claimed 500 dunams (123 acres) of forest and brush around the northern town of Kiryat Shmona on Sunday evening before firefighters brought it under control. No one was hurt in the blaze.

The north-south Highway 90 was closed north of the city, and police led the evacuation of the western campus of Tel-Chai College.

Hundreds of workers in the Tel-Chai Industrial Zone were also evacuated as billowing smoke blew down from the mountainside fires toward the city.

Some 20 firefighting crews were rushed to the area, along with six firefighting planes, and successfully contained the fire.

The blaze was stopped at the edges of the Bimat Tel-Chai neighborhood of Kiryat Shmona, just a few hundred meters from the Lebanese border.

Investigators are attempting to identify the cause of the fire, which they said started at approximately 1 p.m.

Highway 90 was reopened to traffic by 6 p.m.

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