Wildfire in Israel

 

Wildfire in Israel

Late yesterday, December 5th, Israeli authorities said that they had finally gained control of a raging four-day wildfire in the Carmel Forest near the city of Haifa, Israel. The fire was the worst in Israel's history, consuming about 10,000 acres of forest and about four million trees. Israeli responders were helped by an international fleet of more than 30 firefighting aircraft and ground personnel from more than 16 countries. At least 42 people were killed and more than 17,000 residents evacuated. Two suspects have now been arrested and stand accused of negligently setting the blaze. Collected here are images from the recent wildfires around Haifa, and those caught up in the disaster. (35 photos total)

Ultra orthodox Jewish men watch as smoke from a wildfire rises into the sky on December 2, 2010 in Haifa, Israel. A large forest fire in northern Israel has reportedly killed at least 42 people. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

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Fire rages out of control in the Carmel Forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa on December 02, 2010. (MORAN MAYAN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A bus is seen on a hillside road, trapped by a raging wildfire, just before being engulfed by the flames on December 2, 2010 near Beit Oren, Israel. According to reports at least 37 people were killed when the bus carrying Prison Service Cadets, making their way to evacuate a detention facility, were trapped by the flames. (Dan Amir/Getty Images) #

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Fire rages out of control in the Carmel Forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa on December 02, 2010. (DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Israeli firefighter runs from raging fire in Beit Oren, Carmel Forest on December 02, 2010. (DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Charred bodies lie amidst burnt trees on December 02, 2010 after a bus was trapped in a huge forest fire that raged out of control near Israel's northern city of Haifa. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A fireman looks at the remnants of a bus that was engulfed by a wildfire, reportedly killing at least 37, December 3, 2010 near Beit Oren, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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An aerial view of a raging forest fire in Israel's Carmel Forest on December 2, 2010. (MEIR PARTUSH/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Canadair firefighter plane sprays its load of water over flames in the Carmel Forest on the outskirts of Haifa on December 3, 2010. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Flames approach houses in kibbutz Beit Oren in northern Israel, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Yaron Kaminsky) #

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A firefighter walks amongst trees burnt in a forest fire outside Kibbutz Beit Oren on December 3, 2010. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #

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In this satellite image released by NASA, a trail of smoke drifts away from a forest fire outside Haifa, Israel on Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/NASA) #

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A plane sprays fire retardant to quell raging flames near the village of Ussafiya in Haifa's Carmel forest on December 4, 2010. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Firefighters try to extinguish the flames on the outskirts of Tirat Hacarmel, northern Israel, Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) #

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A firefighting airplane prepares to replenish its tanks with water from from the Mediterranean sea near the city of Haifa on December 5, 2010. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A section of forest burns during a wildfire December 2, 2010 in Beit Oren, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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A firefighting plane flies as the sun sets over a fire in Haifa on Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) #

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Fire reaches a main road to Ein Hod December, 4, 2010 in Ein Hod, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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An Israeli firefighter stands close to raging fire in Beit Oren, Carmel Forest on December 02, 2010. (DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Extensive flames approach the town of Tirat Hacarmel, northern Israel, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty) #

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A firefighting aircraft flies over a forest fire on Mount Carmel near the northern city of Haifa December 3, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

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A house burns as it is engulfed by a wildfire on December 4, 2010 in Ein Hod, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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Israeli firefighters battle against a forest blaze on December 3, 2010 in Tirat Hacarmel, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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A firefighting plane flies above Israeli firefighters as they battle a forest blaze on December 3, 2010 in Tirat Hacarmel, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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A water bomber fighting forest fires flies past people on the beach after taking water from the Mediterranean near the northern city of Haifa December 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen) #

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Smoke rises from a forest fire outside Haifa, Israel, seen on Dec. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/ Dana Friedlander, Ofek Aerial Photography) #

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An Israeli firefighter douses a burning area in the village of Ussafiya in Haifa's Carmel Forest on December 4, 2010. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Israeli medics evacuate a badly burned police officer from the site of raging fire in the Carmel Forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa on December 02, 2010. (MORAN MAYAN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A man continues to douse the burnt remains of a house on December 4, 2010 in Ein Hod, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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A firefighting plane drops fire extinguishing material over the wildfire on December 4, 2010 in Ein Hod, Israel. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) #

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Israeli firefighters recover the body of a victim of the raging fires that started the previous day in the Carmel Forest near the northern city of Haifa on December 3, 2010. (OMER MESSINGER/AFP/Getty Images) #

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US Evergreen 747 supertanker sprays fire retardant over a burning area in Ein Hod in the Carmel Forest in the outskirts of Haifa on December 5, 2010. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Israeli Nissan Cohen, 84, inspects his burnt Nisco Museum of Music boxes and Mechanical Music in the artists' village of Ein Hod near Haifa, Israel on December 6, 2010. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Israeli-Druze attend the funeral of Adel Tafesh, one of the 40 prison guards who were killed when their bus was trapped in raging fires the previous day in Israel s Carmel Forest, on December 3, 2010 in the Druze village of Beit Jan. (DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An Israeli man covers his face as he mourns during the funeral of Haifa police chief Ahuva Tomer, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, Monday, Dec. 6, 2010. Tomer, Israel's top policewoman, who had clung to life for four days after her patrol car was trapped in a burning Israel forest, died Monday of her wounds. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)