The KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund announced Tuesday that it would spend NIS 13 million ($4.4 million) to equip 94 communities located next to forests across central Israel with essential wildfire first response equipment.

The organization’s central region encompasses around 440,000 dunams (109,000 acres) of planted forest, stretching from Yokne’am and Zichron Ya’akov in the north to Beit Guvrin in the south.

Over recent years, security challenges, compounded by climate change, have led to an increase in wildfires, threatening communities, infrastructure and vast forested areas.

The 94 eligible communities were chosen on the basis of several factors, among them proximity to, or overlap with forests, fire risk assessments undertaken by the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, and each community’s wildfire history over the past five years. The funds for the equipment will be given to local authorities, with 73 communities eligible for NIS 150,000 ($50,360) each, and the other 21 for NIS 100,000........

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