Six years since the great fire in Haifa - precedents and conclusions

(Haipo) – In 2016, a large-scale fire broke out in Haifa that damaged property, endangered lives and put to the test the functioning of the emergency and rescue forces in the city and the functioning of the Haifa municipality.

A wave of fires all over Israel, most of them due to arson

In November 2016, there was a wave of fires in Israel that affected several centers throughout the country, among others in Haifa, where fires broke out in several different centers, the main one being in the Romema neighborhood.

Following the fire, many people were evacuated from their homes in the neighborhoods of Dania, Ramot Sapir, Ramat Chen, Ramat Almogi, Ramat Ben-Gurion, Ahuza, Horeb Center, Romema, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot Begin, Ramot Alon, Ramot Ramez, Ramat Golda, Hod HaCarmel and Neot Peres.

Closing a circle - the fire brigade named after Elad Rivan

Elad Squadron took part in extinguishing the fire in Haifa. The Elad Squadron is a squadron of firefighting aircraft, which was established following the learning of the lessons learned from the great fire in Carmel in 2010. The squadron is named after the late Haifa fire watcher Elad Riven, who was killed while volunteering to help the firefighters in the Carmel fire and was killed when he tried to save the cadets who were trapped in a death row in front of a house Pine. The establishment of the squadron was a full circle for Riven's family, who witnessed the squadron in action when they were evacuated from their home. The home of the Riven family remained intact, but the military boarding school next to the "Harieli" school where he attended was damaged by the fire. The squadron has since assisted in extinguishing many fires in Israel and in neighboring countries, such as Jordan and Cyprus, which helped Israel in the wave of fires in 2016.

For the first time in Israel - "Safety Check"

The fire in Haifa set a precedent for the use of Facebook's "Safety Check" tool in Israel. The tool allows Facebook users who are in a disaster area to report themselves as "protected" to their Facebook friends and help locate relatives in times of emergency. Facebook activated the security test during the attacks that took place in Paris in 2015, but this was the first time it was used in Israel.

Evacuation of educational institutions

During the fire, educational institutions, kindergartens, and even Haifa University and the Technion were evacuated. Among the schools that were evacuated was Romema School, under the management of Dafna Bonana, which was in immediate danger. The school students, including special education students, were evacuated from the building within two minutes, after a careful scan to make sure no child was left behind. The school was not damaged in the fire, thanks in part to the dedicated guard who made sure to sprinkle water where possible in order to delay the burning.

This is what Bonana Lahi Fe told at the time: "We went through the path where the police sent us. In retrospect, we can only bless the great miracle that happened to us, because two minutes later we crossed the road to the sports hall, they stopped us there, we turned back and saw everything on fire. They tried to turn us towards the center of Horeb, and then we saw the fireball passing through Magen Daniel and lighting up Palmach street. We stopped the bus and I simply told them - we are running. I said to the children: do you have strength? They said: We have power! We just ran forward to the place where we thought there was no danger."

Conclusions and lessons learned

The State Comptroller's report following the wave of fires in November 2016 referred to the evacuation of the school in Romema, and stated that the lack of escorting the evacuation by Haifa municipality inspectors constitutes Failure of the municipality's functioning Around the events of the fires and even a contradiction of the procedures, the municipality of Haifa determined itself.

Quote from the auditor's report: "The evacuation of the "Romma Nigunim" school in Haifa was conducted without supervision by the municipality, and a group of students and teachers remained near the center of the fire without an escort from the municipality's representative, even though it determined that there was a need for an escort..."

Romema neighborhood blockade after the fire

The Romema neighborhood, where the school is located, was blocked off for several days, even after the fire, to people who are not residents of the neighborhood. The purpose of the blockade was to prevent a gathering of curious people that interferes with the work of the firefighters, the Israel Police and the Haifa Municipality.

During the fire, the residents did not fly drones in the city, which also made it difficult for the firefighters to work.

buffer zones

While the State Comptroller's report following the great fire in Carmel in 2010 stated that the Haifa Municipality did not do enough to create "buffer zones", areas where vegetation is thinned out to delay the spread of fires between wooded areas and residential neighborhoods, the Comptroller's report following the fires in 2016 noted Positively the activity of the municipality of Haifa to create buffer zones designed to slow down the rate of fire spread and protect the houses located near the woods.

Creating escape routes from the neighborhoods

The auditor's report stated that the lessons learned regarding the creation of escape routes, which allow for the rapid evacuation of many residents in a short time, were not applied. In the absence of such routes, the evacuation of the residents in real time is delayed and their lives are in danger. Also, the lack of access routes makes it difficult for the rescue forces to reach the center of the fire, And a dilemma arises whether to evacuate the residents first or allow the rescue forces to arrive.

In addition, when extinguishing fires, firefighting planes operate in the sky, and a safety distance must be maintained between the drivers on the roads and the planes flying by. As a result, in the fire of 2016, the Freud axis was intermittently blocked, due to the flying of the planes. The Freud axis is a main and central traffic axis and its blocking delayed the arrival of additional rescue and firefighting forces as well as made it difficult for the residents to get around and rescue their loved ones from the neighborhoods.

The loss of the budget for opening branches from the neighborhoods

According to the mayor at the time of the fire, Mr. Yona Yahav, a budget was received from the government to create new escape routes, but the current mayor, Anat Kalish-Rotem, lost it after she refused the conditions under which it was given. On the other hand, Klish claimed in a post on Facebook that upon taking office she worked to connect the "imprisoned neighborhoods", i.e. neighborhoods that would be difficult to escape from in an emergency. Kalish blames the situation on the frequent turnover of transport ministers, the topographical structure of Haifa and the lack of budgeting by the government. In the bottom line, no substantial change was made in the area that would allow a quick rescue from the imprisoned neighborhoods.