Ahead of Lag B’Omer, ombudsman tells PM that recent fires ‘must be a wakeup call’

8 May 2025, 4:14 pm

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State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman sends a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Lag B’Omer, which is traditionally marked with bonfires, warning the recent major blazes over Memorial Day and Independence Day “must be a wakeup call.”

“The fire service cannot contend with the challenge alone,” Englman writes.

He calls on Netanyahu to take immediate steps to boost firefighters’ capabilities in case of emergency, noting the heatwave forecast for the coming days.

Englman describes last week’s forest fires as “a near-disaster with dozens of victims that would have ended more gravely than the Carmel fire in 2010,” referring to the country’s deadliest conflagration.