Seventeen people were brought Saturday morning to a medical center in northern Israel after a fire broke out in a residential building in Tiberias.
Among the injured were 11 children of various ages. Most of the victims suffered harm from smoke, as well as due to falls from heights.
"We arrived at the scene when the entire first floor was in flames, and we received reports of people who were trapped on the second floor," firefighter Alex Brenner, who commanded the incident, said. "The firefighters attacked the fire from within, and also from without, by using a crane."
After intense work on the firefighters' part, the victims were evacuated, including three children and two adults who suffered moderate injuries. The Poriya Medical Center declared a mass casualty incident.
Aviad Amar, a senior Magen David Adom EMT who lives near the scene of the fire, was first to arrive at the scene.
"I heard people screaming for help and I immediately left and saw a large amount of smoke and flames exiting a two-story building," he said. "I called additional ambulances, mobile ICUs, and firefighters. We began triaging the victims. A woman of about 40 and a girl of 12 were fully conscious and suffered injuries to their limbs."
"They recounted that they had jumped from a height so as not to be harmed by the smoke and fire. We began to help the other residents of the building exit so that we could begin to provide them with medical treatment. All were fully conscious and suffering smoke inhalation. We evacuated 12 victims by ambulance to the hospital, in light and moderate condition, and in addition, we evacuated from the scene another five people who were lightly injured."