From the Liveblog of
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Cabinet approves NIS 155 million plan to prepare for massive wildfires
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The cabinet approves a NIS 155 million ($48 million) national plan to prepare for massive fires as part a broader strategy for coping with the effects of climate change.
Put together by the Prime Minister’s Office and the ministries of public security and environmental protection, the plan provides for the creation of firebreaks to distance homes from adjacent woodlands and forests and stop fires from spreading.
It also includes allocations for improving coordination with the fire service’s airborne division, and a multi-year plan to strengthen the fire service in general.
The whole world is warming because of climate change, and fires pose a real danger to life,” Bennett says at the weekly cabinet meeting. “We are not waiting for the next disaster, but anticipating what needs to be done.”
Last summer, some 25,000 dunams (6,200 acres) of forest around Jerusalem went up in flames. At the height of the blaze, it was feared that Hadassah hospital at Ein Kerem might need to be evacuated. It took three days and the efforts of 204 firefighting crews, 20 planes, IDF rescue teams and help from Palestinian firefighters to fully extinguish the flames. People lost homes. Luckily, none lost their lives.
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