Forest fire in Israel from jump run

[miconar 0]

This picture was taken when the fire was just getting started, its dimensions were not yet known, nobody died yet, and jumping continued. I have some more pictures I took from the plane and in free fall of a tandem with the fire behind it, I didnt notice it while working, just put my back to the sun like always. ill post them later this week if the fire dies down and roads to the DZ are open.

This picture was taken by Hilla Shaked.

This is sad beyond belief. All those lives, all that nature, just gone in a heartbeat. So sad.

[JerryBaumchen 1,468]

Hi miconar,

Quote

nobody died yet,

My newspaper, the other day, said that 37 cadets died in a bus going to the fire to help out.

???????

JerryBaumchen

[NWFlyer 2]

I think he's saying that at the point the photo was taken, no one had died yet. It's clear from the rest of the post he's aware of what's happened since.

Powerful photo... sad story.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[miconar 0]

Currently the number of dead is 41.

Yes, what I meant was the magnitude of the event was not yet known, the timeline puts the cadet's disaster shortly before the picture was taken, and we found out about it as we landed from the jump. During the day the story the media was pumping was that the fire will be under control shortly, even after the death toll was known. During the night the fire picked up to what was a mega fire by morning.

[JohnMitchell 16]

Damn, that's tragic. Was it a bus crash?

[miconar 0]

They were prison guard cadets, dispatched to help evacuate a prison in the middle of the fire. As the bus was making a turn around the road the driver saw the road ahead was blocked and tried to turn the bus around. Unfortunatly the wind had just then changed direction and intensefied, blocking the way back, leaving the bus stuck inside the flames. Two or three people had time to get away. Nobody else did. Three policeman died trying to get to the bus and rescue the cadets. It was done in less then two minutes, the fire just engulfed them.

[JohnnyMarko 1]

Heroes for sure....