Devastating forest fire in Israel

An Israeli police officer comforts her colleague during the funeral of Haifa police chief Ahuva Tomer, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, on Monday, Dec. 6. Tomer, Israel's top policewoman, clung to life for four days after her patrol car was trapped in a burning forest, died Monday of her wounds.

Remains of buildings stand after a massive wildfire in northern Israel on Tuesday, Dec. 7. The fire broke out Thursday and burned a 20-square-mile area in the Carmel forest, a popular nature spot on Haifa's outskirts. The blaze was brought under control late Sunday and damages overall have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the wildfire was small by international standards, it was considered a calamity in Israel, where only 7 percent of the land is wooded.

US Evergreen 747 supertanker sprays a burning area in Ein Hod in the Carmel Forest in the outskirts of Haifa on Dec. 5, as dozens of firefighting planes from around the world battled the blaze.

An Israeli firefighter attempts to extinguish a blaze in the youth village (boarding school) of Yemin Orde, near the northern city of Haifa, Israel, Dec. 5.

A man inspects the remains of a burnt house in the village of Ein Hod, outside Haifa, Israel, on Dec. 5.

Israeli police officers mourn during the funeral of their comrade Yitzhak Melina in Haifa Dec. 5. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government faced calls for consequences on Sunday over a huge four-day-old forest fire that has killed 41 people, including Melina, and been called the worst in Israel's history.

In this photo taken on Saturday, Dec. 4, smoke rises from a forest fire outside Haifa, Israel.

Locals watch a firefighting plane spray fire extinguishing material over the wildfire on Dec. 4, in Ein Hod, Israel.

Israeli residents look at the slope of the burning hill on the edge of Tirat Ha Carmel near the northern city of Haifa on Dec. 3, 2010. Around 40 people are believed to have been killed in the devastating forest fire burning.

Israeli firefighters put out the massive forest fire that broke out Thursday in the Tirat HaCarmel in the north of Israel, Dec. 3. Firefighting aircraft from four countries flew into Israel on Friday to help battle the fire close to the northern city of Haifa.

The burnt interior of a home in kibbutz Beit Oren, with the remains of furniture frames, destroyed in a wildfire in northern Israel is seen Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. Crews and equipment from around the world began arriving on Friday to help Israel's worst fire ever. The inferno, which also displaced thousands, is still raging through forests in northern Israel and on the outskirts of the country's third largest city, Haifa.

Firefighters rest on the road at sunrise after participating overnight in the efforts to gain control over a massive wildfire, still raging near by, in Tirat Hacarmel, northern Israel, Dec. 3.

The bodies of victims from a bus that was trapped in a forest fire that broke out in the Carmel Forest, are seen on the road near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

An Israeli woman holds the keys of her house in her left hand while taking a photo of a raging forest fire in the Carmel mountain from a residential house in the hills above the coastal Israeli city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

An Israeli firefighter plane drops fire retardant on the forest fire in the Carmel Forest, near Israel's northern city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

A fire-fighting plane flies over a forest fire that broke out in the kibbutz of Beit Oren in the north of Israel, Dec. 2.

A burnt-out bus is seen near kibbutz Beit Oren, Dec. 2. The bus burst into flames as it raced to an Israeli prison during a massive forest fire Thursday, killing dozens of prison guards participating in the rescue mission, officials said, in one of the deadliest accidents in the nation's history.

Fire rages out of control in the Carmel Forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

An Israeli firefighter runs from raging fire in Beit Oren, Carmel Forest, near Israel's northern city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

A man stands beside his car as he looks at the forest fire in the Kibbutz of Beit Oren, northern Israel, Dec. 2.

Israeli paramedics evacuate an injured policewoman from the scene of a forest fire that broke out near kibbutz Beit Oren in the north of Israel Dec. 2.

Israeli firefighters work at the site where fire raged out of control in the Carmel Forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa, Dec. 2.

A fire that broke out in the Carmel Forest near the northern Israeli city of Haifa is seen in this aerial view Dec. 2.