Ahead of the approaching heatwave and Lag BaOmer, Comptroller Englman sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu: “The wildfire on Memorial Day must be seen as a wake-up call. The Fire and Rescue Authority cannot face this challenge alone.”
State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (May 8, 2025), stressing the urgent need to address deficiencies in the preparedness of the Fire and Rescue system for emergency events. His warning comes in light of the expected heatwave in the coming days and the upcoming Lag BaOmer holiday.
The Comptroller emphasized to the Prime Minister that the wildfire near Jerusalem on Memorial Day “brought us to the brink of a mass-casualty disaster (with dozens of fatalities) that could have been even more severe than the Carmel fire of 2010. This is based on initial assessments from the Fire and Rescue Authority regarding the response and evacuation of more than one hundred vehicles and buses from Highway 1. A near-disaster such as this must be analyzed and addressed as though the disaster had actually occurred.”
In his letter, the Comptroller also noted the gaps he observed earlier this week during a tour of the affected area and his meeting with the senior command of the Fire and Rescue Authority.
He further emphasized that “the wildfire on Memorial Day must serve as a wake-up call for comprehensive government preparedness, under your leadership, for emergency events involving the fire and rescue system, which is required to respond to fires and rescue operations – bearing in mind that, due to climate change, weather events are expected to become more extreme, more frequent, and more destructive. In light of the complexity and importance of this matter, I once again call on you, through this letter, to take action and ensure the implementation of urgent government measures to close the gaps identified in the Fire and Rescue system’s emergency preparedness, as revealed in audit reports and recent wildfire incidents.”
