Confirmed: Police suspect arson in Haifa fire
When I first posted about Thursday's fire in Haifa, I immediately labeled it arson based on a news reports that had the fire breaking out in four different locations. On Twitter, a fellow blogger said I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Well, it seems that I was right. It was arson. Police found a bike, a bag, and a wig inside near a fire center in Tzur Shalom on Friday, leading them to believe that the fire was caused by an arsonist or arsonists.Yes, but fires don't magically break out in three or four locations at the same time. And if one was arson, chances are that all of them were arson.
Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Post that there are 3 fire centers - Tzur Shalom, the Atlit - Tirat Hacarmel area, and the Carmel hillsides. In one, Tzur Shalom, north of Haifa, "we located suspicious items pointing to arson. As for the other two major fires, it is too early and the incidents are to large in scale to know their causes at this stage." The death toll in the fires rose to 42 on Friday, according to Army Radio.
Galillee police were spread out over the area searching for suspects. Members of the public who see suspicious activity should call 100 immediately.By the way, the fire is not out yet.
The fire is now focused on the Carmel hillsides and the Atlit region of Route 4, the spokesman stated.Unfortunately, there is no death penalty in this country except for Nazi activity and treason. Not even for 41 counts of murder.
" We won't put this out by today but we are aiming to significantly weaken the fire by sunset," he added.
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By early Friday afternoon, fire had spread to new areas in the Carmel despite the efforts of firefighters who were aided by the first foreign firefighting aircraft which arrived to help control the blaze.
Firefighters were battling flames on several fronts, including Na'aman Junction, Chai Bar, the entrance to the village of Usfiya, and the area between Usfiya and Dalia.
Fire spread to the area west of Usfiya, though flames were low, Haifa firefighters said. Flames were centering 300 meters from the Ya'arot hotel in the Carmel.
At Nir Etzion the blaze was out of control, approaching homes and endangering citizens who returned to their homes and ignored police instructions. Police were forced to evacuate citizens using force.
Firefighters were on the ground at all locations and receiving aerial assistance in dousing the flames.
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A blaze in Kiryat Tivon is now under control, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Friday. Police suspect that arson may also be behind the Kiryat Tivon fire.
Labels: arson, Carmel forest, forest fire, Haifa
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:27 PM
2 Comments:
Before Arson is blamed, someone needs to fire model this incident with WFDS (WildFire Dynamic Simulator) to determine if indeed there were multiple points of ignition. I have used fire modeling in Arson Investigations for years and averaging half the time the conclusion is that the case was NOT arson. Fire behavior is a dynamic event, and in many of my cases these 'multiple' ignition points' were found to be just not so. We don't need jerks concluding the incident as arson without using the "scientific method" - conclusions based on a 'witch-hunt', 'junk science', bogus 'gut feelings', 'old wives tales', and other handed down methods that are 'loads of crap'!!!
There is a death penalty for terrorism in Israel. Its simply been made mandated policy for a prosecutor to ask for it. The last prosecutor who asked for it to be implemented was jailed for 14 days. Oy vey.
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