Jerusalem Forest Fire Prompts Residents To Evacuate Neighborhoods

A firefighter douses a fire on July 25, 2010, in the Jerusalem forest. Thousands of homes
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty

The Jerusalem Post reports: Various brush fires blazed across Israel as the country was hit by high temperatures on Thursday, as fires in parts of Jerusalem prompted dozens of residents to evacuate their homes.

Environmental officials from Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fun (KKL-JNF) estimated that the fire in Jerusalem broke out at two locations in the Ramot Forest and the Cedar Valley. The fire then spread to toward the residential areas of Ramot, Gilo and Mevasseret Zion.

Residents in parts of northern east Jerusalem’s Ramot area were asked to evacuate their homes due to high winds, as firefighters feared the fire could rapidly spread to residential areas. Residents of two buildings in the south-western east Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo were also evacuated as the flames encroached. Fire and rescue forces also evacuated the first line of houses closest to the blaze in northern Jerusalem’s Mevasseret Zion.

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