by Maayana Miskin
As foreign crews arrived Friday morning to help Israel battle the major fire in the north of the country, questions began to be heard asking why Israel did not have the necessary firefighting equipment at hand. The fire first broke out on Thursday, 41 people died when their bus was hit by a wall of fire and several more were gravely injured. The fire destroyed an estimated 50,000 dunams (12,500 acres) of forest land, 5 million trees and many houses. More than 13,000 people were evacuated in an orderly fashion, Israelis opened their homes, but the questions remained.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Cabinet would discuss the issue on Sunday and the Prime MInister is set to address the nation after the Sabbath. It has long been known that Israel lacks large firefighting planes, Lieberman said.
Treasury Minister Yuval Steinitz said that months before the disaster, 100m. shekels had been allotted by the treasury for improvements in firefighting and the question was not financial, but operative..
“There is no doubt that we should have bought large planes without waiting,” Lieberman said. The cost of repairing the damages done by the Carmel fire will far outweigh the cost of even the most expensive firefighting planes, he added, “and when it comes to human life, the issue of cost is of course irrelevant.”
The Foreign Ministry has been involved in obtaining foreign aid in firefighting efforts, Lieberman continued. He revealed that Germany was involved in getting aid from Turkey, which sent two planes, a move that came as a surprise to many given the crisis in Turkish-Israel ties.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai is expected to demand that the government establish a committee of inquiry to determine why Israel was unprepared for a large forest fire, and what must be done in the future to rectify the situation. Israeli firefighting teams lacked the large planes needed to spray the fire from the air, but also were short of firefighting chemicals, most of which had been used fighting forest fires earlier in the year.
There have been several fires in recent weeks, due in large part to the unseasonably dry weather and strong winds.
A State Comptroller's report part of which focused on the state of firefighting preparedness was expected to come out in several weeks. The section of the report dealing with firefighting may be published early following the Carmel disaster.
Minister of Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovich called to avoid investigations into the causes of the fire or the possibility of negligence for the time being. “We don't need investigations right now, let's wait a few days,” he said.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made similar remarks Thursday as he expressed sorrow for the lives lost. “I will declare a national day of mourning, but right now we have no time to mourn or to begin inquiries,” he said. He announced that he intends to form an IDF firefighting unit as part of the Israeli Air Force, whose services would be available in the event of need to the PA as well.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
