Instructions for lighting LJ Baumer bonfires for residents of Haifa

(live here) – This year, the eve of Lent in Omer will take place this coming Saturday night, 25/5/24, and the Haifa municipality is working to implement the directives of the National Fire Commissioner's order, which prohibits the lighting of bonfires, except in areas approved by the National Fire and Rescue Authority.

Directive of the Fire Commissioner for the period from Tuesday, 21/5/24, 08:00 until Tuesday, 28/5/24, 08:00:

Bonfires can only be lit in areas approved for this in advance by the Commissioner and in accordance with the safety and behavior guidelines established by the Fire Authority, while maintaining a safe distance from buildings, gas and fuel facilities, vegetation and power lines, telephone, etc.

The fire will be lit by an adult only, when the bonfires must be fenced with stones, prevent children from getting close to the fire, keep flammable materials away and take care of fire extinguishers or water sources that will enable a quick extinguishment when necessary.

The employees of the operations administration of the Haifa municipality worked during the last weeks to clean the areas, which were approved by the fire authority, of weeds, thorns and other flammable materials.

Reinforced teams of the administration, which include the members of the Municipal Enforcement Division, sanitation and garden workers, will patrol the city during the holidays, with the aim of preventing bonfires from being lit in prohibited places, including: in parks, in KKL-Junk forests and public gardens, on roads, on beaches or under electricity and telephone lines .

The list of plots approved by the Fire and Rescue Authority for lighting bonfires in Haifa:

• Carmel Ridge: Hatana - behind the school, Mor 6, Rushmia corner Vardia
• Carmel Heights: Raul Wallenberg 15 behind the community center, Rubinstein 17, Biram corner Dubnov, Gan HaBanim Palmach, Saipan - in front of 20, Bnei Brit.
• Hadar: Rupin - near Gaola Dormitory, Rabbi Kaniel Gaola Dormitory, Makor Baruch 5 Ramat Vizhnitz, Rabbi Herzog - in the synagogue square.
• Neve Sha'anan: Bat Chen 14 + 16, Yaakov Hazan 49, Netiv Han 63 - along the entire length next to the wall, Dokifat - behind houses 4-6.
• West of the city: Horesht Neve David, Esther HaMalka, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, 51 Derech Sharaf, IDF 25 and 27, Dror 17, Ha'il, Aliya - near the cable car station, Harotem 51, HaTorn 44.
• Kiryat Hayim: Alexander Zeid train tracks, Ben Zvi after Beit Nagler + train tracks, Zeitlin Stables + Synagogue, Operation Kadesh, Mishmar Hamek 17, Warburg 27.
• Kiryat Shmuel: Kabri 2, Hantziv at the end of the street, Chabad, Holocaust Martyrs, Mouldat, Bar Ilan, Dov Fromer 6 only, Stern.

Information meeting for the ultra-orthodox community in the city

This year, also for the first time in the city of Haifa, an informational meeting for LG B'Omer was held for the ultra-orthodox community in the city. At the meeting, an information leaflet for LG B'Omer was signed, emphasizing the dangers of the holiday and including life-saving instructions for lighting bonfires correctly.

The leaflet was signed by the commander of the Haifa fire station, sub-tafser Yitzhak Suisa and Rabbi David Shlomo Zoldan, the head of the ultra-Orthodox communities in Haifa. The leaflet will be distributed through the media and educational institutions in the community when it is distributed to the ultra-Orthodox youth ahead of the holiday.

From Fire and Rescue it was delivered to Lai Pa:

"We all hope that thanks to the joint informational effort, the residents of Haifa in the ultra-orthodox communities will be able to celebrate the holiday with joy while protecting human life, safeguarding property and observing the safety instructions."

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health: "Avoid lighting bonfires on the holiday and protect the environment and the health of all of us"

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health issued a joint announcement ahead of the holiday calling for the protection of the environment and the health of all of us.

Minister of Environmental Protection, Idit Silman: "Also this year, and especially this year, we will take care of the environment and the health of ourselves and our children and we will celebrate LG Baumer in social gatherings and alternative activities in nature. You can celebrate the holiday together, without polluting the environment."

Minister of Health, Uriel Bosso: "Bonfires can be dangerous to public health and the environment. In Lag B'Omer, everyone must adhere to the safety procedures and obey the instructions in order to avoid unnecessary harm and so that everyone ends the holiday in peace. I ask the parents to remain vigilant and prevent as much as possible the risk of ourselves and the children from inhaling air, burning and overexposure to environmental and health damage."

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health call on the public again this year to reduce harm to health, the environment and safety and to avoid lighting fires.

There has been an increase in public awareness to avoid burning trees and lighting fires

According to the data of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, last year there was a decrease in air pollution in Lag B'Omer compared to previous years. This trend has been evident in recent years in view of the call of fire and rescue forces, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Health and various authorities to hold alternative social activities. It seems that there has been an increase in public awareness to avoid burning trees and lighting fires. However, last year there were still high particle concentrations compared to a clear day in most of the country's localities, and the maximum concentrations measured were 14.1 times that of a clear day.

With the lighting of 100-meter fires in Omer, increases are recorded in the concentrations of particles passing through the respiratory tract

As every year, with the lighting of the LG B'Omer bonfires, most of the environmental protection ministry's monitoring stations record increases in the concentrations of particles passing through the respiratory tract. These reach their peak during the night until early morning. Children are the most sensitive population in terms of the effects of air pollutants on the respiratory tract.

During the burning of wood in bonfires, high concentrations of respirable particles that are extremely dangerous to human health are emitted into the air, as well as large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming. This, along with an increase in the number of referrals to the emergency room among children due to burns in the larynx in Omer in the last decade.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health call on the public to avoid bonfires and prefer to have an alternative environmental and social activity, to mark the holiday together.

The guidelines of the Ministry of Environmental Protection:

It is recommended to celebrate the holiday with environmental activities such as ecological bonfires.
Do not throw plastic and nylon into the fire.
Do not burn solid wood substitutes.
Do not throw wood painted with paint or bleach into the fire.
Place the campfire in an area free of thorns and weeds, at a reasonable safety distance from buildings and facilities.
Do not light a fire under electricity and telephone lines, near trees and bushes or fuel facilities.
Avoid using plastic utensils.
Leave the place clean after you leave.
Separate the recyclable waste such as bottles and packaging, and if there is no bin nearby, take the garbage to the nearest bin.

Ministry of Health guidelines:

Appoint a responsible adult to accompany the process of setting up the campfire and do not leave the children unattended even for a moment.
Pick up planks without nails and protruding things that could cut and injure you.
Wear high shoes and wear long pants and a suitable shirt to protect the body from embers and embers and the bites of reptiles and vermin that are attracted to the heat of the fire.
It is advisable to have a mobile phone from which you can call the fire brigade or an ambulance when necessary.
Have a first aid kit and keep two full buckets of water near the fire in case a fire spreads.
Keep any flammable material away from the fire, and it is absolutely forbidden to keep fuel containers and gas containers near the fire.
Make sure that the distance from the neighboring campfire is large enough.
Define a safety boundary for a stone fire to mark the line that you don't cross.
Glass and stones should not be thrown into the fire. Glass and stones may explode from the heat of the fire and endanger those around the fire.
It is recommended not to sit close to the fire and not in the direction of the smoke, in order to avoid unnecessary inhalation of pollutants and thus avoid damage to the respiratory tract, eyes and face.
Sessions and activities for children are done next to the fire and not around or close to it.
It is recommended to thread the potatoes and onions on a wire thread. Putting them in and taking them out of the fire will be done by an adult. Before serving them to children, make sure they are not too hot to eat. Hot vegetables can cause severe burns in the mouth and esophagus.
Make sure the fire is completely extinguished at the end.
In the event of a fire, extinguish it immediately and call the fire and rescue center 102.
Think twice before lighting any fire! You can also celebrate differently!