Three big fires in Jerusalem area: Homes evacuated, roads closed

Thirty fire brigades mobilized countrywide and eight aircraft are fighting three fires in and around Jerusalem Sunday amid a sweltering heat wave. The fire from Moshav Even Sapir has not reached Hadassah Medical Center, but the hospital is wreathed in smoke. The moshav had to be evacuated when the flames reached homes, chicken runs and storehouses.  Firefighters were unable to access to the conflagration at Beitar Ilit because of an old minefield. A third fire is blazing near Ofer Camp outside Givat Zeev west of Jerusalem. To clear the roads to incoming fire trucks from outside the capital, Routes 386 and 395 are closed to traffic both ways and the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway One shut to trucks from Latrun up to the city. Drivers are advised to use Highway 443 as an alternative route. No serious casualties are reported.