A 12-year-old boy was killed in a fire that broke out Sunday morning in an apartment on Zeev Arlozoroff Street in Petah Tikva.
Firefighters rescued the boy from the burning apartment in critical condition. After prolonged resuscitation efforts, his death was pronounced at Beilinson Hospital.
Magen David Adom teams provided medical treatment at the scene. The child, found unconscious and without a pulse, suffered extensive burns. He was evacuated by an intensive care ambulance while CPR continued en route to Beilinson Hospital, where he was later declared dead.
Three additional people suffered mild smoke inhalation and were evacuated to Hasharon Hospital.
Eight teams of firefighters from Petah Tikva and surrounding stations operated at the scene. Fire crews worked to rescue trapped residents, extinguish the blaze, release smoke, and ventilate the apartment and building while attempting to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent units. A fire investigator is examining the cause of the blaze.
The incident commander, Senior Fire Officer Tamir Cohen, said: “Already on the way to the scene we could see the heavy smoke coming from the apartment due to the intense fire load. When we received a report of a child trapped inside, the teams acted decisively to extinguish the fire and enter the burning apartment, where we found a child in critical condition. During further searches, we rescued additional trapped residents from the upper floors.”
Shahar Hazkelvitz, Deputy Director of MDA’s Yarkon Region, together with medics Nissim and Nino and Pavel Blazer, recounted: “We received a report of a fire in a four-story residential building. We arrived with large forces and saw heavy smoke coming out of the building. Residents were beginning to come out of the windows. During the firefighting operations, a 12-year-old boy was brought to us unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, with extensive burns. We immediately began medical treatment, including advanced resuscitation, and evacuated him urgently to the trauma unit at the hospital in an intensive care ambulance, while he was in critical condition.”