rough Fire

.

The fire appeared
above a ridge.

14

raffle stopped dead a few miles outside of Jerusalem.
On the highway connecting the ancient city to Tel Aviv,
a carload of good humored Israelis sliced open a watermelon
and passed around dripping wedges to other stranded motorists.
Lynn Podolsky from Huntington Woods was bumping up and
down on a 24-seat bus on Sunday, July 2. After nearly a week in
Israel, she and members of her extended family were rushing
toward an archeological dig somewhere off the highway.
The thermometer had climbed to 105 degrees and a strong
wind was blowing. The Podolskys' guide, Roni Winter, recom-
mended bringing water. The dig was scheduled for 1:30 p.m., but
the Podolskys had decided to press their luck and make a stop
for falafel and shwarma.
At 2:05 they were still on the highway — stuck and befuddled.
Inch by inch the traffic moved forward. The radio didn't hint
at reasons for the jam. With binoculars, Mrs. Podolsky and her
family peered ahead. They figured it was an accident. Probably
gawkers were holding things up.
Army jeeps began racing between the vehicles. Cars, trucks and
buses, pointed eastward and westward, pulled off to the side to make
way. The air became smokey, and the Podolskys noticed each bank
of the road had been scorched.
Above them on a ridge, they saw flames. The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv
Highway, it seemed, was ablaze.
Israel has called the disaster its worst forest inferno ever. The fire

toppled more than two million trees, charred nearly 5,000 acres at
destroyed 30 homes. Forty-four people were injured, but none lost
lives.
Percentage-wise, it's as if all of Maine burned in a U.S. fire.
The Jewish National Fund, in charge of forestation in Israel, h
established a fire emergency campaign for money from worldwide Jei
ry. The JNF estimates it will take up to 30 years and more than $,
million to restore the area ($20 million to replant; $25 million to r
build).
The fire was an accident. Ironically, a moshavnik was carryii
out normal fire prevention procedures by burning away pine thistly
near a chicken coop. Strong winds blew the fire out of control and
spread rapidly through the arid underbrush.
"No matter the cause, this loss injures all of Israel's citizens," sa l
Eli Scherr, JNF national president. "No matter the cause, the loss mi
be replaced; there is no alternative and it will be done."
Lynn Podolsky's 16-year-old daughter, Erin, opted out of the arcl
ological dig July 2. She and her grandmother, Norma Schachter, spe
the afternoon at Hebrew University. From Jerusalem proper, th
both smelled smoke but shrugged their shoulders and didn't ma
much of it.
Meanwhile, on the highway, their family members snapped pi
tographs through bus windows. A gust of wind blew the roaring flair
from the top of the ridge downward to the edge of the road near t
bus.

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