Perilous Times and Climate Change
Forest Fires Rage as Israel's Rainy Season Fails to Arrive
By KKL-JNF
17/11/2010
KKL-JNF firefighting teams seemed to be in action almost everywhere in
the Western Galilee and Golan Heights.
"A huge forest fire that is destroying young man-planted forests and
natural woodlands is raging as of the morning of Tuesday, November 16,
at Segev Forest in the Western Galilee. There are seven firefighting
teams at the site along with three airplanes. The fire is as of yet not
under control." This press release, which was published Tuesday
morning, is unfortunately typical of news flashes about the forest
fires that have been blazing in Israel's forests and nature reserves
over the past few days of November, a month that usually ushers in
Israel's winter rainy season, and the time when people normally put on
their heaters for the first time. This year, however, no rain has
fallen, and no rain is in sight. And it takes next to nothing to set
the dry open spaces on fire.
KKL-JNF firefighting teams seemed to be in action almost everywhere in
the Western Galilee and Golan Heights. On one day in the Western
Galilee, 50 dunams of forest burned at Ahim Mountain; a natural forest
was destroyed near the village of Hararit where KKL-JNF firefighters,
together with an airplane, were barely able to stop the fire before it
endangered the homes of local residents; in Ga'aton and Nofit, fires
broke out that destroyed many dunams of natural forests; and at Neve
Ziv, six KKL-JNF firefighting teams assisted by airplanes fought to
control a fire that was caused by someone burning pruned olive tree
branches.
And in the Golan Heights, on November 7, over 13,000 dunams of natural
forest, grazing lands and agricultural land in the Southern Golan
Heights were totally destroyed. The director of KKL-JNF's Coastal Plain
Region, Gilad Mastai, said that the natural woodlands would be fully
rehabilitated only 30 years from now: "There is nothing more painful
than to see a forest you planted with your own hands go up in flames,"
Gilad said. "It hurts like a sharp pain in the heart. Reptiles like
turtles, snakes and lizards were killed in the fires, along with hyenas
and jackals. It was very complicated to get the fire under control
because of the difficult terrain and the impossible weather – the
unseasonable heat and the winds. The fire trucks couldn't reach all the
places where the fire was raging, so the fires in these places could
only be put out from the air or by firefighters on foot.
"I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that fires
should be lit only in the places allotted them. These places are free
of weeds, they have a water supply and KKL-JNF supervisors and
foresters monitor them."
The cause of this particular fire was, sadly enough, the good
intentions of a participant in the Rainbow Festival that was being held
at the site. For ecological reasons, she burned toilet paper she had
used so as not to leave it in nature, and in normal circumstances, that
would have been the thing to do. However, due to the strong winds and
the unseasonable hot air, the dry grasses caught on fire immediately,
and the fire spread in four different directions simultaneously.
Was this the last major forest fire in the Golan Heights?
Unfortunately, not by a long shot. About a week later, on the same
Tuesday, November 16 that so many fires broke out in the Western
Galilee, over 10,000 dunams of Golan Height grasses, river vegetation
and natural forests went up in flames. Dozens of KKL-JNF and local
firefighters, park employees, soldiers, cowboys and social workers
spent hours trying to put out what was the third fire in this region in
a month. Authorities believe that the blaze may have been caused by
metal thieves in the area of the Eliad Junction.
"It's a disaster," said Raz Amir, head of the Golan area for the Israel
Nature and Parks Authority. "We saw animals burned before our eyes.
Flames were leaping 20 meters in the air, and there were tremendous
temperatures. The damage to the reserve is enormous, tree groves that
were hundreds of years old were destroyed. It will take many years
before the riverside habitats recover. It's a heavy blow. You have to
realize that every tree that grows here by the river for decades has an
entire ecological system around it. The fire destroyed entire strands
of trees, including grapevines, fig trees, poplars and willows. I am
afraid that the Griffon vultures won't return to nest at the stream
next year."
The recent fires join the other forest fires that broke out during
August in making this one of the worst years Israel has ever
experienced in terms of damage to its forests, parks and open spaces.
It means that KKL-JNF will have its hands full trying to repair the
damage done throughout the country and to bring the color green back to
the charcoal-colored hills, a task that could not be accomplished
without the support of its friends throughout the world. Everyone in
the country is anxiously waiting for the winter rains to finally begin,
as water sources are drying up and there has been no rain to replenish
them.
KKL-JNF invests more than $5,000,000 annually in fighting fires in
Israel's forests and open spaces. This sum includes maintenance and
operation of KKL-JNF's firefighting services, which include 22
firefighting vehicles, dozens of fire fighters on duty 24 hours a day,
communications systems and 30 fire watchtowers in forests throughout
the country that are manned around the clock. The modern firefighting
vehicles, which were purchased with the support of friends of KKL-JNF
worldwide, can traverse tough terrains and thick forests. KKL-JNF also
operates a forest fire risk forecast service as well as participating
in the management of an aerial firefighting fund and forest fires
investigations, along with the implementation of conclusions arrived at
from past experience.