An awards committee headed by National Police Director David Cohen on Monday decided to award medals to ten police officers who showed extraordinary bravery during the tragic Carmel forest fire in December.
Among those to receive the medals posthumously, will be Assistant Commander Ahuva Tomer, Assistant Commander Lior Boker, and Deputy Commander Itzik Melina, all of whom were killed in the fire while trying to rescue others. The three were killed trying to rescue passengers on the bus that became engulfed in fast travelling flames whle transporting prisoners, mostly Arab offenders from Damun Prison, away from the fire. The fire claimed 44 victims before it could be conquered.
The officers who survived, and the families of Tomer, Boker, and Melina, will be given the medals at a special ceremony by President Shimon Peres next month. Awarding the medals was the idea of Northern District Police Commander Shimon Koren.
Last month, U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham said that Tomer was to receive a “Women of Courage Award” certificate from the State Department. Tomer “showed true courage, both in her distinguished career as the highest-ranking female police officer in Israel, and in her battle against the fire that took her life along with the lives of 43 others,” said Ambassador Cunningham when he announced the award.
At her funeral in December, Peres praised Tomer as well, saying that “she had an extraordinary personality, and was a rare combination of a mother and a commander. When her vehicle touched the flames she looked from the outside upon us. This was a moment that none of us will forget, the moment before her death, the height of her valor.”