8 years since Haifa went up in huge flames - not a single access road has been completed, the neighborhoods remain locked up

(Live here with the imprisoned neighborhoods) - 8 years ago, on 24/11/2016, the great fire broke out in Carmel, which severely damaged the neighborhoods of Ahuza, Dania, the new Romema, Ramot Sapir, Givat Oranim and other neighborhoods. It started in the morning, the fire broke out in several locations in the city and spread as time passed.

red sky

In the afternoon the sky was already red from the many fires in the city. The fire department did everything to put out the fire, but it took many hours before the fire was completely extinguished. After a few days, the dimensions of the disaster became clear: over 900 apartments were burned to one degree or another and there were no casualties at all. To this day you can see a building that has not been renovated since the fire. Evacuating the residents from the neighborhoods that caught fire was complex. In the new Romema neighborhood, for example, the elementary school "Nigonim Romema" partially caught fire. Parents arrived in a panic at the school to pick up the children and had to deal with fires on the way. Although the Romema neighborhood has several roads that lead to and from the neighborhood, the journey was very complex and miraculously no one was hurt.

Identifies

In the first days after the fire, the city administration focused on the restoration of the affected areas, including homes and natural areas that were destroyed. At the same time, urgent organization was required to find temporary housing solutions for residents who were forced to leave their homes. After the immediate confrontation, the management turned to learning lessons from the disaster, with the aim of preventing the recurrence of a similar event. Among the main conclusions that emerged: the need to create buffer zones around residences, guaranteeing a double exit for each neighborhood, and strengthening cooperation between the fire services, the municipality and the police.

The buffer zones are designed to create a safe separation between the natural forest and the residents' homes, thus reducing the risk of fires spreading. Over the years, works were carried out to establish buffer zones, but some of them were stopped due to difficulties in execution and management. In August 2024, a comprehensive plan funded by the Ministry of National Security, amounting to NIS 12 million, was approved to create buffer zones in the city. In the first phase, the plan is expected to be carried out in the neighborhoods of Ramat Golda, Sabioni Dania and Dania.

gated neighborhoods

In 2018, the municipal auditor examined the conduct of the local authorities in the waves of fires that broke out two years earlier, and pointed to a series of failures at the national and local level. Among other things, the auditor noted that the Minister of Internal Security did not declare a mass disaster event, and that the government lacks a dedicated national body to enforce emergency preparedness. At the local level, the auditor criticized the municipality of Haifa, which did not prepare a dedicated fire protection plan, the lack of adequate exit routes in many neighborhoods in the city, and the fact that the municipality was not properly prepared to claim compensation from the state for the damages.

Over the years, the Haifa Municipality has worked to promote the issue of double origin and escape routes in the imprisoned neighborhoods, but the challenge remains significant. There are many neighborhoods in the city where a single road is used for exit, a situation that raises serious concerns in emergency situations. A mass disaster scenario, where a large number of residents try to escape at the same time, could turn the single road into a deadly bottleneck, preventing a quick and safe escape from the neighborhood.

Over the years, the Haifa municipality has tried to raise budgets for the planning and construction of additional roads to the incarcerated neighborhoods, but in some cases it encountered resistance from the residents. As of today, another road has been built to the Givat Zemar neighborhood, which is still under construction, and another road, which leads from the Kabvir neighborhood, is also under construction. At the same time, there are many other closed neighborhoods in the city, where the construction of another road that will provide another exit beyond the existing road has not yet begun.

The road between Sabioni Dania and Ramat Alon

The need to build additional roads in the closed neighborhoods is a critical need in terms of safety. In the fire that occurred in 2016, when parents came to rescue children from the school in the Romema neighborhood, what played in their favor was the fact that it was possible to enter the neighborhood through several ways. Thus, the volume of traffic in each of the roads was lower, which prevented the formation of loads that could have made it difficult to evacuate the objects and people in an orderly and safe manner.

The Savioni Dania neighborhood is a closed neighborhood, as it has only one exit. The municipality has an approved plan for the construction of a road that will provide another exit to the neighborhood, and will bring it to the Ramat Alon neighborhood. However, the residents of Ramat Alon express opposition to the construction of the road, due to several reasons: increasing the volume of traffic in their neighborhood and damage to the nearby forest, which they have invested in in recent years and restored it, while creating hiking trails. The claims of the residents of Ramat Alon are understandable, since no resident wants traffic to be added to their neighborhood, but the main question is what has more weight: the comfort of the residents of Ramat Alon or the safety of the residents of Sabioni Dania.

Eight years have passed, and in the meantime no additional roads or access roads have been added from the closed neighborhoods, except for the road to the Givat Zemer neighborhood, which is a neighborhood under construction and cannot be defined as a closed neighborhood. Over the years, attempts were made to raise budgets to finance the roads, but it was not clear whether the funding would come from the municipal budget or the state budget. During a war that was fought, the question arose again of what would happen if, God forbid, it would be necessary to evacuate one of the neighborhoods, and create a large traffic jam on the only road that allows exit from the neighborhood.

It is not possible to predict when a quick evacuation from one of the neighborhoods will be necessary, and the number of roads and access roads will always be put to the test. What is clear is that the fire in Carmel in 2016 taught us not to be complacent. When the State Comptroller stated in 2018 that we must ensure a double exit for the imprisoned neighborhoods, this is a reminder that failure to prepare can be critical, especially if we need these roads in emergency situations, and they will not be paved yet.

Haifa Municipality's response:

The Haifa Municipality stated that there is constant emphasis on finding solutions and promoting the creation of exits for all of the imprisoned neighborhoods in the city: "Within this framework, a new road was recently opened in the Givat Zemer neighborhood on Yossi Banai Street, which creates additional access to the neighborhood from the Ramat Almogi neighborhood. Also, these days a new road is being paved , which will connect the Kabvir neighborhood in Carmel with the Neve David neighborhood in the west of the city, thus creating another exit from these neighborhoods, both both in routine and emergency situations. At the same time, the municipality is promoting plans for the release of the rest of the imprisoned neighborhoods in the city, which are in various planning and promotion procedures."