Fire authority needs ‘double the budget’ to cope during era of mega-fires — official
Head of National Fire and Rescue Authority’s Fire Research Branch: ‘What would happen in case of simultaneous fire events countrywide?’
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The state needs to double the resources available to the Israel National Fire and Rescue Authority to enable it to cope with the “era of mega-fires” being driven by climate change, a senior authority figure said Sunday after a week of major fires in central Israel.
Deputy Commissioner Shay Levy, who heads the authority’s Fire Research Branch, told The Times of Israel that he studies all five areas of the world that have Mediterranean climates — California, Central Chile, the Mediterranean Basin, South Africa’s Cape region, and Southwestern and South Australia — and that all were experiencing more frequent, and increasingly severe wildfires that were lasting longer.
“We need more of everything,” he said, adding that Israel was not only a climate hotspot, where temperatures are rising faster than the global average, but also experienced particular complications, such as nationalist-motivated arson.
“This time, all the fire services converged on the Jerusalem area,” he went on. “What happens if several major fire events erupt simultaneously and continue for a long time in different parts of the country?”
Levy said the massive global wildfires seen in recent years were too big for one country to manage and required regional and international cooperation.
He spoke after two rounds of severe wildfires in the hills west of Jerusalem last month.
The second round, last week, burned 20,000 dunams (5,000 acres), forcing several communities to evacuate, closing the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and other roads for hours, killing wildlife, and rekindling discussions about years of underfunding for the fire and rescue services.
No regular state funds for fire prevention
Most villages evacuated last week fall under the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council.
A spokesman said there was no regular state funding for fire prevention, forcing the council to distribute millions of shekels from its coffers to enable the management committees of the 57 communities under its responsibility to finance the activities themselves.
The spokesman explained that the regional authority had appealed for special funds for damage and rehabilitation after every recent major fire incident, but had never received what it requested.
For example, after a fire in 2016, the regional council requested NIS 4 million ($1.1 million at current rates). It received NIS 1 million ($276,000), spending it on items such as asbestos and waste removal and installation of emergency water infrastructure in Beit Meir, Nataf and Neve Shalom — among villages temporarily evacuated last week. A proposal for a properly funded state program for rehabilitation after fire went unanswered, the spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, after a fire at Kibbutz Harel in 2019, the Interior Ministry promised NIS 6 million ($1.66 million) but only released NIS 1.5 million ($415,000).
After a major fire in 2021, the regional authority asked for NIS 2 million ($550,000) and was given NIS 0.5 million ($138,000).
The spokesman said: “Roughly a year ago, we were told that Kisalon (a moshav) and Srigim (a community settlement) were the most at risk of fire. We tried, unsuccessfully, to secure the funds. Now, after the fires, they gave us the money, and the head of the regional authority has ordered the works to start.”
A spokeswoman for the Hof Carmel Regional Authority in northern Israel said the situation was similar in that there were no regular state funds for fire prevention. In 2010, a massive wildfire decimated much of the Carmel Nature Reserve, killed 44 people, and burned many houses to the ground.
Too many cooks?
The fire and rescue authority is still investigating the incidents in the Jerusalem hills and would not comment on specifics. However, it is known that last week’s blaze broke out next to Moshav Mesilat Zion, with one possibility being negligence on the part of hikers seen passing nearby in the hours before the fire began.
The flames started in a border area between the moshav and part of a forest managed by the KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund, highlighting a further problem — the division of responsibility between numerous organizations.
Forests and open spaces in Israel are managed either by the KKL-JNF or the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, with neither authorized to work in the territory of the other. Regional authorities in rural areas are not authorized to enter villages to carry out fire prevention activity. They just provide the funds.
In the event of a major fire, the IDF gets involved, providing C-130J Super Hercules heavy transport planes equipped to drop fire retardant. It also provides Home Front command personnel to clear vegetation to stop the flames from spreading.
The police take charge of evacuations and road closures.
The Prime Minister’s Office, along with the Environmental Protection, Agriculture, and National Security ministries, invariably get involved.
Calls over the years for a single authority, or one conductor for this orchestra, have fallen on deaf ears.
Several years ago, then-Fire and Rescue commissioner Dedi Simchi established a forum that brings 16 bodies together for twice-yearly meetings. Levy coordinates the forum, and the current commissioner, Eyal Caspi, chairs it.
“We work within the situation that exists,” said Levy. “The coordination is good, but still needs to be improved as we enter an era of mega-fires.” He added, “We all have the same aim — to prevent fires, and protect lives, property, nature and wildlife.”
The forum distributes a brochure calling on homeowners to:
- Install smoke detectors in all rooms and common areas of buildings, buy a fire extinguisher and ensure there is a water pipe in the yard
- Prune low-hanging branches that could carry fire from the ground to the tree canopies
- Ensure a minimum 1.5-meter (five-foot) gap between vegetation and flammable materials, and between vegetation and the house
- Remove leaves and dry branches from balconies, gutters and yards, and weed and irrigate the garden regularly, especially during hot and dry weather
One project about which Levy is justifiably proud is a fire trail created in partnership with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority at the memorial to those who were killed during the Carmel inferno in 2010, on the hill leading up to Kibbutz Beit Oren.
The trail includes sculptures and multiple signs about fire and fire prevention. Levy hopes to install similar trails elsewhere in Israel.
Speaking Sunday after a pre-planned fire and rescue exercise simulating simultaneous fires around Haifa, Nesher and the Carmel coast area in northern Israel, Levy said the authority employed officers in each district, as well as one nationally, to work with communities year-round to raise awareness about fire risks, provide guidance on preventive action, and follow-up on that action. He said the Jerusalem district officer had written reports for each community in the region.
“The work with the communities is slowly improving,” he went on, noting that poorer villages sometimes found it challenging to fund work like thinning vegetation.
He added: “Less than six months ago, I was at one of the villages in the Jerusalem corridor (the forested area west of the capital) and met someone who told me, ‘I came to live in the forest and if you try to chop down a tree, I will chain myself to it.’ It’s lovely to live in the forest, but there is a bigger danger, and we need to find the balance.”
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