HAIFA, Israel — European aircraft dumped tons of water over flames shooting from tall trees Friday in northern Israel as firefighters struggled for a second day to contain the country’s worst-ever forest fire, which has killed 41 people and displaced thousands.
Authorities raised the possibility of arson, saying several small fires that broke out in the same general area but were quickly contained appeared to have been deliberately set.
A strong wind fanned flames through one of the country’s few natural forests to the outskirts of Israel’s third-largest city, Haifa. One of the main country’s highways was closed to traffic as adjacent trees were left smoldering and smoke billowed toward the Mediterranean coastline, with bits of ash flying through the air and large red flames closing in on a hotel and a spa south of the city.
Police said two men, Druze from northern Israel, had been detained on suspicion they planned to set a smaller fire. A bicycle and a wig were found near another blaze site. That reinforced suspicions that the big blaze was set by arsonists.
A police investigation was ongoing, and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said it was too early to determine the cause of the big fire. But if the big blaze did turn out to have several distinct centers, “then it would look like arson,” he told Channel 2 TV.
Yoram Levy, a spokesman for Israel’s fire and rescue service, said the fire was huge and that firefighters battling strong winds were having trouble accessing the mountains and valleys.
“We don’t have big aircraft that can carry a large amount of water,” Levy said. “It is not enough for a large-scale fire.”
The shortfall prompted an unprecedented wave of international assistance. The Jewish state is better known for sending its own rescue teams and medical personnel to other countries to help in their disaster-relief efforts.
Some 100 firefighters from Bulgaria arrived as well as fire extinguishing planes and crews from Greece and Britain, Israeli officials said. More aid was on its way from the United States, Russia, Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan, Spain, Azerbaijan, Romania and Turkey — which put aside tensions over Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla in May to lend a hand.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio that he was hopeful the fire could be suppressed by Saturday night.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to make all its resources available for the effort, which was being coordinated by the Israeli air force. The military said it sent soldiers and equipment, including helicopters, bulldozers, medics and army units.
The Israeli Cabinet convened an emergency meeting to discuss the fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked countries around the world for their help before departing north to visit the wounded in hospitals and inspect firsthand the efforts to put out the fire.
He singled out Turkey as the two countries put aside tensions over a deadly May 31 Israeli raid against a Turkish flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
“We are amid a disaster of international proportions,” he said. “We have to admit that our firefighting services cannot handle a forest fire backed by such a strong wind. We don’t have the means for it.”
The scorched woodland accounted for only 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) of land. But because only 7 percent of Israel’s land is forested, this worst forest fire in Israel’s history was felt here as a deep national loss.
The disaster exposed critical shortfalls in emergency services. With the country’s resources focused primarily on its military and police forces, firefighters have been undermanned and underfunded for years.
Levy said the country only has 1,400 firefighters, far below the worldwide average. The force also complains of having old and faulty equipment.
The sense of helplessness sparked outrage among Israelis.
Aluf Benn, a columnist for the Haaretz daily, said the country’s inability to control the flames proved it was not ready for a massive attack against it from the likes of Iran. He compared the fire to the fiasco of 1973, when Israel was caught off guard by a surprise military attack from Egypt and Syria.
Maariv columnist Ben Caspit noted that a country that carries out chilling military operations, leads the world in high-tech and whose powerful economy emerged unscathed from the global crisis, is also the country “whose fire trucks date back to the previous century, and a country that therefore finds itself caught, standing before the flames, with its pants down.”
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the death toll had risen to 41, all on a bus carrying Israeli prison guards to try to rescue Palestinian inmates at a nearby prison.
The bus caught fire after a tree fell across the road, blocking its path, police said. With no way out, many of the guards were burned alive inside the vehicle. Others perished while trying to flee the flames fed by brush left tinder-dry by lack of rain. The prisoners survived.
Forensic experts were still working on identifying the victims and a procession of funerals began Friday. Police also evacuated a university, three prisons and a hospital.
Two police officers and two firefighters were still reported missing Friday. Rosenfeld said 16 people remained hospitalized, including the Haifa police chief, who was in critical condition. Ahuva Tomer was interviewed on TV moments before she was engulfed by the flames.