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More than 17,000 people have been evacuated to escape the largest fire in Israel’s history. About 10,000 acres of drought-stricken woodland and many houses were destroyed by the blaze.
Foreign firefighter aircraft have joined in the battle to contain the fire, dumping water on flames consuming the mountainside Carmel ridge where the fire was focused.
Officials said, however, there were few signs that the blaze was being brought under control. Police said initial findings showed the fire was caused by negligence. Some officials said they could not rule out arson.
Mickey Rosenfeld, a spokesman for national police, said it would take time to make final conclusions and that all causes were under investigation. Planes from France and the US were expected later on Saturday to supplement Israel’s own short supply of fire-fighting aircraft. Russian planes started dumping water on Saturday morning.