Fire brigade to cancel call-out fees

Feel free to call the fire brigade if your house catches ablaze — they will no longer be charging for call-outs.

The government announced Sunday that from the beginning of 2017, those in need of the fire brigade will no longer have to pay a service charge.

The new directive was the initiative of Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan. Additionally, the fee will be waived retroactively for any citizen who called the fire services during the wave of fires across the country last month, Kikar Hashabbat website reported.

Currently the call-out charge for the fire brigade varies between hundreds and thousands of shekels, depending on where the fire is located, how many engines are needed, and how much water is used.

According to Fire Services spokesman Yoram Levy, there were over 2,000 brush fires during the series of fires that ravaged Israel between November 18 and November 26, with 39 of them considered major.

As many of the fires were declared arson, the government will anyway compensate those who suffered property damage from the fires.