fire safety

While other places in Israel saw many unpleasant wild fires, our immediate surrounding was spared for many years. This year we had a bigger and a smaller fire outside the Kibbutz. Both of them only "field fires"- or as they are called here: "thorn fires". 
These fires burn the low vegetation and maybe here and there some shrubs, hardly ever harming the lone standing tree here and there. 

Something like 3/4 of our community borders on such fields/ low vegetation areas. The remaining area borders on forest and that's where the real danger lies.

While it is quite easy to keep a field fire under control and they can usually be stopped on one of the many paths and fire safety ways a forest fire is a very different problem. Once the trees started to burn it is impossible to get close without any firefighter equipment. Especially the very tall pines are great burning material and the burning pine cones can fly for quite a distance through the air and start fires in other places.

Field fire in the wadi below our community- July 2019

The forest bordering on the kibbutz is actually not under our responsibility but belongs to the Jewish National Fund. Problem is, that they do not really take care of this small strip bordering the kibbutz. As you can see in the pictures it is a quite densely overgrown area. Big pines (some of them dead) are mixed amongst others with carob, oak, olives and on the lower level with shrubs like laurel, mastic and thorny asparagus.

This situation poses a real danger for wild fires that could spread into our community. So we took matters into our own hand and started to clean the area. We cut the lower branches of the trees and lower the height of the shrubs that grew too big. We clear the dry matter of the seasonal plants that grew crazy high last winter because of good rain conditions.

An already cleared area

It is quite a bit of work- especially since we are a small team and this work has to be done alongside our normal duties.

I also started my own small project. I clear paths from stones and build walls- this will help in two ways: the paths will be easier to maintain without the stones and in creating terraces the rainwater will not so fast drain but will stay near the plants and trees instead.
I also want to create a small path for walking and educational purposes- mainly for the children of the kibbutz. 
We will see how much of it I will be able to do this winter.