163 crews battle Jerusalem-area fire which official says may be Israel’s largest ever 

IDF helps fire service, police fight wildfires in Jerusalem hills as towns evacuated, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road closed; dozens suffer smoke inhalation, burns, but nobody serious hurt

By Charlie Summers, Emanuel Fabian,  Lazar Berman, and ToI Staff

As darkness fell Wednesday evening, the Fire and Rescue Service’s Jerusalem District commander warned of long, critical hours ahead, as firefighters battled out-of-control forest fires raging on the outskirts of Jerusalem with no signs of slowing down.

The fires in the Jerusalem hills area erupted on Wednesday morning, with the Fire and Rescue Service reporting blazes in at least five locations. The flames spread quickly, as a stifling heatwave and strong winds made it difficult to bring the blaze under control.

By Wednesday evening, the fire service said it had 163 firefighting teams on the ground and 12 firefighting planes battling the conflagrations surrounding Jerusalem at several key hotspots, including multiple spots in Latrun, Neve Shalom and the Eshtaol Forest. There were also fires spreading in Mevo Horon, along Burma Road toward Beit Meir, Mesilat Zion, and near a gas station in Sha’ar Hagai. Read more and see videos here.