A month after Israel's arson intifada which destroyed more than 600 homes in Haifa alone, another fire broke out in the city, this time caused by a fuel tank explosion.
Forty firefighting teams rushed to put out the fire on Sunday morning, in an effort to protect the other fuel tanks at the site. Residents were instructed to close their windows, and at 11:30am, firefighting teams managed to take control of the fire, though they had not yet managed to extinguish it.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, "What we saw today was only a small hint of the disaster which will happen. I call on you to prevent the refineries' expansion and get rid of the ammonia in the Haifa Bay area.
"This was a fuel tank that exploded, and it exploded in an extremely frightening way. It's a preview of what might happen during the next war involving rockets. It will be just like we had a decade ago in the Second Lebanon War. We have a disaster waiting to happen, and the government is dragging its feet," Yahav emphasized.
"This is the time to tell the Israeli government: Wake up and do something."
Green Party Haifa City Council representative Yaron Hanan said, "Unfortunately, the Haifa Bay area is getting too used to emergencies caused by dangerous materials. This is a serious danger. Once upon a time, factories would notify each other of these dangers, but now that network no longer functions...Sitting idly is dangerous, but the government does not seem to care."