An official Israeli delegation departed overnight (Thursday) on an El Al flight to Los Angeles to assist American rescue services and authorities in dealing with the raging fires in the state. The delegation is being sent with the support of the Emergency Volunteer Project (EVP) - an organization that works in cooperation with the fire service and assists in firefighting events.
The delegation members, consisting mainly of content experts from Israel Fire and Rescue Services, will help share knowledge and professional experience with their counterparts in Los Angeles.
This will focus particularly on fires and their impact on the population, fire spread prevention, climate effects on wildfires, and methods for containing and controlling fires.
The delegation includes an IDF Home Front Command representative who will contribute from their experience in disaster zone assistance and will help delegation members in forming situational assessments and providing decision-support tools in the field.
The delegation departed in coordination with all relevant authorities in Israel (Ministry of National Security, Israel Fire and Rescue Services, National Security Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Emergency Authority) and in coordination with California authorities, following discussions held in recent days between the countries, the Consulate General in Los Angeles, and the Israel Police and Ministry of National Security attaché, to ensure the most effective delegation composition to assist rescue forces working on site.
This delegation is further testament to the friendship and deep commitment in the relationship between Israel and the USA, and to the importance Israel places on helping its great friend as it faces one of the largest fires California has known.
According to NBC News, tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents have been evacuated due to the fires and enormous numbers of homes - sometimes whole neighborhoods - have been wiped out by the blaze. Thousands of acres have burned down so far.
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