Firefighters under the command of Eyal Cohen gained control of a large fire in a building located on Derech Hebron Street in Jerusalem on Thursday morning, 7 Menachem Av.

At approximately 8:45AM, a report was received of a fire on Derech Hebron Street. Firefighters arrived and immediately located heavy fire in the building’s miklat (shelter) and thick smoke surrounding the entire building and the buildings nearby.

The firefighters began to battle the blaze in the shelter, along with the search for and rescue of trapped persons and the routing of the large amount of smoke that had accumulated in the building in an effort to ventilate the area.

Firemen entered the building as the acrid smoke continued bellowing and the fire raged. They found a large number of people trapped in the apartments, terrified and crying out for help. B’chasdei Hashem, the tenants of the building were rescued by firefighters.

Ten fire & rescue teams responded to the blaze along with 30 firefighters. Sixteens apartments and three bomb shelters were damaged by smoke, some completely burned and sustaining severe damage. In addition to the tenants, a dog was rescued from the building as well. Magen David Adom transported two injured persons to a local hospital. There are no details regarding the extent of their injuries.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)