Thousands of Jews are still making their way to Meron for the Lag Ba’omer “Hiloula” celebration that began Saturday night at midnight.
Police, emergency rescue and fire teams are on hand in large forces. The roads around Meron will be closed to traffic.
Parking will be available at the Farod parking area, at Ein Zeitim and at Safoufa. There will be buses to Meron from those places.
In view of the harsh weather conditions – warm and dry – Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich spoke with Fire and Rescue Commissioner Shahar Ayalon Saturday evening, and the two decided to raise the level of preparedness, beef up the firefighting teams and aerial firefighting squadron, and be ready for fires.
Lag Baomer is celebrated with thousands of bonfires throughout Israel, by religious, traditional and non-religious Jews alike – and the bonfires are especially favored by children.
Hundreds of firefighters in dozens of fire trucks will be patrolling the roads and streets of Israel from Saturday evening into the night, on the lookout for bonfires that might go out of control. The Fire Services ask the public to make do with small fires in order to minimize the danger.