Among all the events of the year 2010 in Israel, the forest fire on the Carmel Mountains at the beginning of December was one of the most striking events, because it displayed the country in an unusual position on the international scene: helplessness.
What had started as a small fire in a pine forest on the Carmel Mountains had quickly turned into a raging and huge forest fire which soon was out of control. it cost the lives of 22 prison guards and one chief police officer, and destroyed the homes of 77 families. The Prime Minister was forced to call for help from neighboring countries; Greece, Cyprus and Turkey sent fire fighting airplanes, even the US sent a super sized fire fighting plane, and the Palestinian Authorities immediately sent their firemen to Haifa to back up their Israeli colleagues - a highly unusual opportunity to see who was ready to help.
A relative of mine in Europe asked me: "How is this possible? How can such a sophisticated country, spearhead of modern technology, be so unprepared and so ill equipped to deal with a simple forest fire? That's odd; I find that difficult to understand."
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| A pine forest in Northern Israel |
What had started as a small fire in a pine forest on the Carmel Mountains had quickly turned into a raging and huge forest fire which soon was out of control. it cost the lives of 22 prison guards and one chief police officer, and destroyed the homes of 77 families. The Prime Minister was forced to call for help from neighboring countries; Greece, Cyprus and Turkey sent fire fighting airplanes, even the US sent a super sized fire fighting plane, and the Palestinian Authorities immediately sent their firemen to Haifa to back up their Israeli colleagues - a highly unusual opportunity to see who was ready to help.
A relative of mine in Europe asked me: "How is this possible? How can such a sophisticated country, spearhead of modern technology, be so unprepared and so ill equipped to deal with a simple forest fire? That's odd; I find that difficult to understand."
