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Residents of Haifa suburb told to flee because of bushfire

03 December 2010 05:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Some residents of an outlying suburb of the northern Israeli city of Haifa were ordered to evacuate their homes early Friday morning, in wake of a massive bush fire that had raged unchecked for over 12 hours in the area, APA reports quoting Earth Times.

Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said there was no immediate danger that the fire would engulf the suburb of Deniya, but said he had ordered residents of several streets to leave their homes because "we’re not taking any chances."

The suburb was the first in Haifa to receive an evacuation order because of the fire, which broke out late Thursday morning on the Carmel hill, which borders the port city.

The blaze, aided by strong winds and dry ground because of a drought, swept through the Carmel area and forced an estimated 12,000 people from villages in the area to leave their homes.

Some 40 prison guards on their way to help evacuate prisoners from a jail were killed when the bus in which they were traveling was engulfed by flames.

Firefighters said they could not contain the fire and did not know when it would be brought under control.