Tens of thousands of residents of the Israeli port city of Haifa were evacuated as fires threatened a dozen neighborhoods in the area. The blazes began on Tuesday November 22 in a community 22 miles north of Haifa. Then more fires broke out the next day in central Israel. This is when authorities evacuated 60,000 people as strong winds on Friday, November 25 fanned new flames.
Firefighters were able to control the fires so that the evacuation order was lifted on Friday, November 25 and all residents are now allowed to return home. Over 700 homes had been either damaged or destroyed by the fire. Authorities have concluded that the fires that began near Haifa were deliberately set. Twelve people had been detained in connection with the setting of the fires.
Although all the fires in Haifa are now out but there is always the danger that fires may reignite from smoldering embers.
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on November 24, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner with information from Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority.