• By Gil Tanenbaum/TPS • 16 August, 2021
Jerusalem, 16 August, 2021 (TPS) — Minister of Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg visited the Rescue Forces Brigade, near the location of the fires in the Jerusalem Mountains today, Monday. She was accompanied by the director general of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Galit Cohen and the director of the Jerusalem district at the Ministry of Environmental Protection Shoni Goldberger.
According to data measured by the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s emergency drives deployed in the field, very high concentrations of respirable particles in excess of the warning levels were found in these areas. In the other zones close to the fire centers, residents were evacuated for safety reasons.
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environmental Protection recommend that heart-lung patients, the elderly, children, and pregnant women avoid staying outside unnecessarily. For the rest of the population, it is recommended to reduce physical activity outside, close windows, and turn on the air conditioner.
The ministry has also reported that a number of chicken coops and warehouses with asbestos cement roofs caught fire in the areas of Ramat Raziel and Beit Meir during the fire in the Jerusalem Mountains. And so the Ministry of Environmental Protection warns the public not to enter burned coops and calls on citizens to stay away from the areas that were burned as there may be harmful chemicals in those places that were released into the environment.
The area is home to some agricultural settlements.
In Ramat Raziel, a row of about 18 buildings was burned, most of them chicken coops, with asbestos roofs. In Beit Meir, one coop with an asbestos roof was burned. Two warehouses containing asbestos were burned in the settlement of Ramat Raziel.
At this time residence in the homes adjacent to them is forbidden.
Under the direction of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Mateh Yehuda Council operated an asbestos inspection on its behalf and immediate actions have already been taken to prevent the spread of asbestos fibers into the air and to demarcate the affected area. Warning signs have been placed near the hazardous area in Beit Meir.
Minister Zandberg told the Knesset that such fires are connected to climate change saying that, “Because of the climate crisis, such incidents of fires, extreme weather, floods and climate disasters, are going to be more frequent and more powerful in the coming years. It requires us to prepare completely differently for the impending climate disasters.”
“I am working for the State of Israel to declare a climate emergency. We must define the climate crisis as a strategic threat, which all parties must prepare for and deal with better. Because from now on it is going to get worse and worse. There is something to be done – and it must be done now,” she added.
Shoni Goldberger, director of the Jerusalem district of the Ministry of Environmental Protection said, “The fire department and the local council. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is dealing with the episode and is instructing the authorities on the correct treatment of the hazard. Asbestos is a carcinogen, so it is always better to prevent the source and remove it intact before burning it.”
