It is Saturday night in Israel, and the fires are still raging in six areas: Beit Oren, Har Shokef, Nir Etzion, Ein Hod, the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve, and the area between Hik stream and Isfiya. Earlier today, firefighters said they could take a week to put out, although there were signs of improvement later in the day. So far, ten-thousand acres (40,000 dunams) have burned and 41 people perished, including this 16-year-old volunteer firefighting hero.
Ironically, it is two 16-year-old brothers from the Druze village of Isfiya suspected of being responsible for the act of negligence which started it (lighting a fire near their home), and they have been arrested. Additional fires may have been caused by arson.
There are those who are already claiming the fires were started by a deliberate act of Islamic terrorism, but I caution these people to have all the facts at hand before rushing to this conclusion.
The Israeli government has rented a Boeing 747-200 modified into an aerial firefighting aircraft, considered the largest aerial firefighting aircraft in the world, and which is expected to arrive tonight. This will be added to the ten firefighting aircraft currently fighting the wildfire, with nine more expected to arrive tomorrow.
In other news, some fire evacuees have been allowed home, and many in the Arab world seem happy about the fires, although the PA’s Abbas and Fayyad offered help and condolences.
Meanwhile, you can check back here for updates, either from me or others on Twitter:
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