From mourning to fleeing from fire in Israel’s worst blaze

Flames tore through forests, vineyards, fields, and homes in the Jerusalem Hills in central Israel with terrifying speed on Wednesday, 30 April, bringing traffic to a standstill for hours and forcing drivers to abandon their vehicles. For many, Yom Hazikaron, the national day of mourning, was interrupted not only by the haunting siren for fallen soldiers, but also urgent calls to evacuate.

Johannesburg-raised Dalya Sacks, a resident of Mevo Horon, a moshav located near Latrun and the city of Modi’in, said it was a day of sorrow and frantic escape as flames chased residents through smoke.

“We knew there were fires but by 13:50, we were told to prepare to evacuate. Twenty minutes later, we were ordered to leave immediately,” she said. “I told the kids to pack for one night. Within 10 minutes, all seven of us, plus our dog and two lasagnes still warm from the oven, were in the car. As we drove out, we saw the smoke and flames coming from Park Canada. It was so strange leaving the house not knowing if and when we would be coming back,” she said.

“All I could tell my children was that nothing material matters, what’s important is that we’re together. My husband grabbed his tefillin and our passports, and some clothes. We left almost everything else.”

The fires broke out on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day, with more than 3 000 acres burning across five different locations, fanned by hot desert winds and dry brush. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service described it as one of the largest wildfires in national history.

The blaze led to the unprecedented cancellation and postponement of Yom Ha’atzmaut festivities that evening. While reminiscent in scale to the devastating 2010 Carmel fire, which claimed 44 lives, this inferno caused no serious injuries.

Royna Friedlander and her husband, Ze’ev, both olim from South Africa, had just returned from a family memorial ceremony in Nahshon when the alert to leave that area was issued. Waze struggled to keep up with sudden road closures, and what should have been a 15-minute drive back home took more than 90 minutes as fires driven by heat and strong winds left drivers scrambling for safe routes.

“Eventually, we got home to Mevo Horon, only to be told that we had to evacuate immediately. My husband took our laptops, jewellery, tefillin, passports, toothbrushes, and whatever else we could think of in that moment and left. We could see the fires as we drove to a friend in Modi’in. Calls came pouring in from concerned friends and family offering shelter. Some people were stuck on the road, others were holed up in school classrooms.”

The annual Yom Hazikaron Machal memorial ceremony, held at the Shaar Hagai site to commemorate the fallen, was abandoned at the last minute as flames closed in. Hundreds of people including Machal veterans were forced to leave the area fast.

“We were just about to begin the ceremony when the fire brigade arrived and told us to evacuate,” said Dave Bloom, the chairperson of World Machal, which honours overseas volunteers in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “At that point we didn’t realise the extent of the danger. We did a quick wreath laying ceremony and within minutes, left the memorial site. Ten minutes later, we were standing outside our cars on the highway, listening to the siren in smoke and fire. That’s when the imminent danger began to sink in.”

According to Michael Kransdorff, the chairperson of the Jewish National Fund South Africa (JNF), more than 500 workers were deployed in the effort.

“KKL [Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael]-JNF teams worked around the clock in extreme, dangerous conditions to contain the flames,” Kransdorff said. “They used specialised sophisticated firefighting equipment, and workers stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services, police, and the IDF.”

After more than 30 hours of unrelenting effort, the fires were finally brought under control. But the damage is staggering.

According to the KKL-JNF, more than 21 000 dunams (2 100 hectares) were destroyed in a single day, on top of 10 000 dunams lost the week before. Anyone driving along Route 1 can see the damage.

Where green forests once stood, there are now blackened hills. It will take a long time to restore, Kransdorff said.

The cause of the fires remains under investigation. While dry conditions and high winds exacerbated the disaster, Kransdorff warned of a darker threat.

“Climate change plays a major role, but arson is also increasingly being used as a form of terror, intended to sow chaos, fear, and destruction. We need to be more prepared to combat this kind of attack. JNF is raising funds for fireproof vests for our teams and for mobile firefighting units that can be deployed quickly by local communities.”

Telfed Chairperson Maish Isaacson said for new olim, emergency situations could be overwhelming, “Especially with the language barrier.”

“We’ve learned how to deal with sirens, but this was a different kind of crisis. Since the war began, we have made sure that fire safety instructions are shared in English and only from official sources to avoid misinformation and panic,” he said.

“Telfed oversees the welfare of more than 20 000 olim across the country, many of them in fire-affected areas like Beit Shemesh and Modi’in. The shutdown of Route 1, the main artery between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, cut off access and created logistical nightmares for thousands trying to flee or check on loved ones,” Isaacson said.

Environmentalists say the damage will scar the land for years. Forests nurtured over decades were reduced to ash in hours. Replanting efforts will begin as soon as it is safe to do so, but the scale of the task is large.

As the country begins to rebuild, officials stress the need for vigilance, with calls for more proactive fire prevention and response measures.