Residents evacuated as brushfire rages in southern Israel moshav

Residents of a southern village were asked to evacuate their homes on Thursday as fire fighters worked to control a large brushfire that lightly injured five people.

Over 50 firefighters and 22 firetrucks were deployed to the fire next to Gilat, a moshav in the western Negev desert between Beersheba and Ofakim, according to the Fire and Rescue Authority. Four planes and four bulldozers were also working to extinguish the fire.

The fire was started when a controlled fire to remove scrub got out of control, the Fire Service said.

Five people were lightly injured by the blaze; one was taken to the hospital, but the others refused to leave the area.

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Additional firefighters were called in from Jerusalem and the center of the country to assist in controlling the blaze.

The fire brigade said it had managed to protect the cow sheds and chicken coops on the moshav, a cooperative community of farmers.

After several hours the Fire Brigade said the fire was completely extinguished and the incident was over.

Even though Gilat is in the south of the country it did not appear that the fire was related to the current spate of kite arsons on the Gaza border.