Israel evacuates thousands as fire spreads in northern city

HAIFA, Israel (AP) — A wildfire roared through parts of Israel's third-largest city on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting a rare call-up of hundreds of military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters.

Police and firefighters were deployed throughout the city, as people loaded up supermarket carts with belongings and fled their homes.

Some people connected hoses together from apartment buildings to help battle the fires, while residents held cloth over their faces.

Israel has strengthened its firefighting capabilities since then, buying special planes that can drop large quantities of water on affected areas.

Guy Catlan, who runs a gas station in Haifa, told Channel 10 TV that workers turned the power off and were helping firefighters to prevent the flames from reaching it.

Yahav also said there were indications one of the fires was caused when "someone tossed a cigarette in an area full of oil and flammable fluids" in an industrial zone.