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The Mount Carmel forest fire (Hebrew: אסון הכרמל ''Ason HaKarmel'', "The Carmel Disaster") was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. The fire claimed 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service officer cadets,〔 as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police.〔 More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage.〔 The fire appeared to be caused by human activity near the Druze town of Isfiya. On 6 December a 14-year-old resident of the town told police that he had inadvertently started the fire with a nargila coal.〔(14-year-old admits to accidentally starting Carmel fire ) Haaretz, December 6, 2010〕 The teen's father argued that his son was witnessed in school at the time and could not have started the blaze.〔(Father of Usfiya boy: My son didn't start the Carmel fire ), Jerusalem Post 07-12-2010〕 The fire was followed by a wave of arsons throughout Israel and the West Bank. These fires, which initially created confusion regarding the source of the Carmel blaze, were all extinguished within a few hours of being lit.〔〔 The motivation for the attacks was not immediately clear. Israeli police have referred to some of these fires as arson.〔 Government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, called on other countries to help assist in firefighting efforts, and the Israel Defense Forces mobilized troops for the same purpose.〔〔 The fire was defeated on 5 December after raging for four days.〔(The flames are out, now come recovery, recriminations ), Jerusalem Post 05-12-2010〕 ==Causes== Mount Carmel contains large areas of forests, including large numbers of Aleppo pine trees, which are more easily ignited. Over the years, many fires have occurred on Mount Carmel, among them many which devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. One such as that was the Mount Carmel forest fire of 1989 which destroyed about of forest. Israel had been experiencing an unusually warm autumn and dry conditions;〔(Israel asks for aid as worst forest fire in its history rages ) Boston Globe, December 3, 2010〕 previous spring and summer months were also exceptionally hot. It was originally speculated that the fire was caused by the burning of an illegal garbage dump and spread due to the dry conditions and strong winds. Haifa's Mayor Yona Yahav stated that the problem was known and it was "just a matter of time until a calamity occurred".〔 Israel Police suggested that the fire was caused due to a bonfire that was lit by local residents and not extinguished properly and in time. However, they stressed that the investigation of the incident is in its early phases and cautioned against drawing premature conclusions.〔(Usfiya fire suspects' father: They were framed ), Jerusalem Post 05-12-2010〕 On 4 December, police arrested two adolescent brothers from the Druze town of Isfiya on suspicion of having caused the fire through negligence. Their family denies the accusation. On 5 December, the Haifa Magistrate Court extended the brothers' remand for three days,〔 and on 6 December the court released them from custody under restrictive conditions. There were unconfirmed reports of the teens having hurled burning waste products during a picnic. The same day, police announced that they had arrested two additional youths from Isfiya the previous night, and that more arrests could be expected soon.〔(Court releases 2 Usfiya arson suspects from custody ), Jerusalem Post 06-12-2010〕 In the evening of 6 December, police announced that a 14 year-old resident of Isfiya admitted to inadvertently starting the fire. The teen told investigators that after smoking a nargila, he threw a lit coal into an open area and was so shocked by the result that he returned to school without telling anyone what he had done.〔(Police: Usfiya boy, 14, admitted to starting Carmel fire ), Jerusalem Post 06-12-2010〕 Druze Member of Knesset Ayoob Kara, a resident of Isfiya near where the fire broke out, had said on the evening of 2 December that he had received information that the fire was a terror act. MKs Ya'akov Katz and Michael Ben-Ari also cited the possibility that the fire was an act of terrorism and called for an investigation.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mount Carmel forest fire (2010)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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