"From the very beginning of the war, we suffered from relatively large fires in the Rosh Hanikra forest, where 1,400 dunams burned, and around 500 acres burned in the Ramot Naftali forest. These were the first fires we had,” says Sheli Ben Yishai, director of the northern region of KKL-JNF.
“As foresters, we were eager for the war to end in April, before the summer, because we foresaw what might happen. We had a bitter experience in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War and knew the dangers of such big fires. Unfortunately, the war continues, and the situations in the last month have been very chaotic in terms of fires, which have increased in recent days.”
The recent fires, which raged following Hezbollah’s barrages, took a heavy toll on the environment over the past week. Since Monday, the Fire and Rescue Authority has been intensively fighting dozens of fires.
Firefighters, with the assistance of the aerial firefighting unit, handled and are handling all the fires. Fire and Rescue Authority Commissioner Eyal Casspi instructed at the beginning of the war to prepare for all scenarios. The Authority also recruited emergency standby squads throughout the country, training and equipping them to help in the event of fires.
In the past week, 1,000 hectares burned in the Golan Heights, 400 hectares in Amiad, and about 900 hectares in Menara.
"The entire forest of Ramot Naftali, about 8,000 dunams in size, burned as fires intensified in the last two weeks and especially in the last few days," explained Ben Yishai.
"At the same time, missiles continued to fall and reached the Keren Naftali forest, where about 2,000 dunams burned in the last few days. Yesterday, there was a severe fire in Birya, with significant damage levels - about 1,200 dunams - due to falling IDF interceptor fragments. In a general assessment, regarding KKL-JNF territories, since the beginning of the war, we are talking about 13,000-14,000 dunams of forests that have burned.”
“We fight fires with our firefighting teams using state-of-the-art drone technology and invest a lot of effort together with the forces of the Fire and Rescue Authority while risking rockets.”
Ben Yishai added, "We estimate that there are still hundreds of dunams of forest areas that burned near the fence, which could not be extinguished for security reasons. Today’s situation is not like that of 2006. Today, Hezbollah is more dangerous, so there were also individual fires we saw from the road but could not enter because of a very high level of risk."
How are you feeling the last few days?
"I walked around the area the other day from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and I returned home with the feeling that I don't see the end and fear for the areas that have not burned. We try many prevention tactics: reinforcements, observations, to catch the fire when it is very small, but it is very difficult because the recent heat combined with winds makes it very challenging. Any fire that starts as a result of a UAV or our shooting has significant potential due to the strong winds, heat, and dryness. That's why I know there might be double destruction."
The damage, Ben Yishai pointed out, is to an entire ecosystem. He said, "It's also the vegetation of the grove and the forest that burned at different intensities, and there are also reptiles, mammals, and other animals inside the forest. I think there is significant damage there, and the restoration will be long-term."
How long will it take to restore burned forests?
"There is great complexity and challenge in returning the greenery and nature to the north. On a fundamental level, the vegetation will regenerate; the ecology is strong, nature is strong. In 40 years, we will see a beautiful landscape develop, but until then - I believe within ten years - we will begin to see natural regeneration and start the cultivation of the regeneration. The naturalization and restoration of the damage is a long process, involving a lot of work and challenges."
The recent fires also caused extensive damage to farmers. "This is the first time we have encountered such a scale of damage. This is more damage than the fires caused during the Second Lebanon War. There was also damage then, but not on such a scale. Not in so many areas, not in so many different crops, and not seen on such scales," said Segev Yerbam, CEO of the Galilee Development Company, noting that hundreds of hectares of orchards - pear, apple, nectarine, avocado, and wine vineyards - were destroyed in fires.
"It is still difficult to say exactly what the magnitudes are. I guess in the coming days we will know more precisely, but by and large, the extent and the damage can already be seen," Yerbam says.
"There is the direct damage: trees burned with or without fruit. This means that the tree is lost, and it must be uprooted and a new one planted, which will take another four years to bear fruit. The damage is not only the immediate loss of fruit, if there was fruit on the tree, but also the cumulative damage of a few years ahead due to the lack of crops for the next four or five years. For example, if you take wine vineyards that burned in Kibbutz Yiftah and Misgav, vineyards that belong to the Galil Winery, this means that there will be a lack of grapes in the coming harvest, which also hurts the winery."
How will the damage affect farmers?
"As mentioned, every tree that burns has to be uprooted, a new sapling ordered, and planted. This is a financial investment. First, it costs the farmer. He will have to claim the damage from property tax, like all war damage, but until he receives it, it will hurt his cash flow.”
“The second problem is that we know how to define part of the damage now, i.e., how much it costs to restore a burned plot, but the other component of the damage is future-oriented, i.e., the future damage of four or five years of absence of a crop. The farmers will have to be compensated for that because the absence of a crop equals the absence of income, and a few months are needed to rehabilitate a plot until it can be replanted, followed by a four-year wait until the first harvest."
The Galilee Development Company, said Yerbam, represented 35 agricultural kibbutzim in the Upper Galilee and the northern Golan Heights, so he received updates concerning the situation from farmers and factories. “For example, we have an avocado packing house. The damage is to the farmer but also to the packing house, or to the winery that was damaged as a result of the fire. The circle of damage is much wider than the farmer himself.”
The farmers themselves, Yerbam points out, also took part in the firefighting work. "You can hear their frustration," he says. "There is frustration, sorrow, and a lot of anguish surrounding the war, of course, and the damages, but people don't break down because there is no other choice. Breaking down won't help. Everyone who is hurt takes care of their property tax claim, and if necessary, we know how to help provide loans to ensure no one falls behind. The situation is frustrating at all levels, both in agriculture and for those who remain under fire and threats because there is no choice. All our factories here in the Kiryat Shmona area, such as the packing house and the like, are important to continue functioning despite the situation."
"The fires that raged damaged about 10,000 dunams of pastures in the Golan Heights, woodland, and fruit orchards that are a source of nectar for bees. There is also extensive damage in the Upper Galilee, but it is spread over a very large area, and no one yet knows the exact estimate. Until Tuesday evening, the fire was still burning in some areas, and it was not possible to reach all the burned areas and assess the damage," said Doron Livna, chairman of the Israel Beekeepers Organization, noting that the estimate was that "dozens of hives were also completely burned.”
“The beekeepers participated in extinguishing the fires and have not yet managed to reach all the hives. Also, the worst thing is that at any point where a piece of shrapnel, an interceptor, or a UAV falls, another fire can develop because the vegetation in the area is dry, and with the wind and weather conditions, this becomes a catastrophic event, a real terrorist attack. Right now, I don't want to calculate damage before we know all the data; it's still too early to talk about it, but there could be heavy financial damage to the beehives."
The meaning of a fire, explained Livna, "Is the damage to the hives themselves, which are made of wood. Also, the bee lives in dung, a flammable substance that ignites easily, so the contents of the hives are also burned, which means that the honey bee, an important creature for our ecology, agriculture, and food, is directly affected by the fire. The bee is burned inside the hive, everything is burned. Currently, there are a few dozen hives known to have been burned in some places, but it is still impossible to get close to all the locations, and there is no full damage estimate yet."
The damage corresponding to the burning of beehives, Livna pointed out, "Extends to the pasture area around these beehives, which also burns and decays. Basically, the bee is in a vacuum; it has nothing. It is on scorched earth," he explained.
"The effect of this is not only on the next month but until the next rain comes and until there is a regeneration of the vegetation. The more areas that are burned, the greater the damage to the bee because it will have nothing to eat, no nectar, and no protein to survive on. A hive in such an area will simply wither. It will have to be supported at the agricultural level by moving it to other places. The problem will increase, or they will have to feed it with powder substitutes, and that's not good for bees."
"In the long run, they will have to plant new trees, work harder, but none of the growers intend to abandon. The event that happened does not lift anyone's spirits, but no one is giving up. There will be hard and painful restoration work, but it will happen."
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