As we watched the fire in our neighbourhood develop yesterday, it was clear that the whole valley would be destroyed. On the other side of the valley are a number of small communities, including a psychiatric hospital where all residents had to be evacuated. Eliyahu a Metzuda winery in Givat Ye’arim that went up in flames. “It’s dust and ashes. Nothing is left” said the manager. Around 150 barrels were burned. Last Thursday, a consignment of 30,000 new bottles were delivered that were due to be filled.
The fire – which
is still burning as of this writing
on Monday afternoon – is being called one of the largest
blazes ever recorded in the wider Jerusalem area. It appears to have been started
near the town of Beit Meir, an area targeted by arsonists in the past. Due to
the strong westerly winds prevailing on Sunday, it spread rapidly to nearby
communities which were swiftly evacuated – some 10,000 people were directly
affected.
The manager of the
winery stated that “It was going to be a day of harvesting the grapes,we
started work indoors that morning, and suddenly, the world seemed to be going
dark outside. The skies looked strange, but we didn’t realize the reason why,
and we went back to work.”
“After around a quarter
of an hour, the electricity went down, and we started to get worried. We went
outside and then we saw the flames – they were already approaching – and there
was an acrid smell of smoke. Then we realized what was going on. All of us –
all the winery workers – ran for our cars and fled for our lives.
“A quarter hour later or so, I tried to see
what was going on at the winery from a distant vantage point, and I saw it
going up in flames and I could actually hear the sounds of explosions as the
bottles of wine shattered.”
And in that time the livelihoods
of all in that business were shattered
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