Is this Lag-pocalypse? Fire safety events in Israel for Lag Ba’Omer

Are you an Anglo immigrant? Is it sometime around April/May? Have all the branches/wooden planks/crates been mysteriously removed from your neighborhood?

It’s time for the Lag Ba’Omer nag!

Nah. This year I have some praise. Turns out fire departments across the country (or maybe just one in Bet Shemesh) have taken on performing a fire safety week for area families in the days before Lag Ba’Omer, a Jewish minor minor holiday that I’m pretty sure has lost most its meaning since Rabbi Shimon had his way.

We visited on the last day, yesterday, and it was really lovely. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much in the way of personal fire safety – what to do if you’re caught in smoke, how to keep your home safe. How to properly handle a bonfire. Though they did stress the phone number to dial for fire emergencies: 102.

But what they did focus on was how hard firefighters work – which is great because they definitely don’t get the kind of praise and honor and respect that they do in the States or elsewhere.

They also showed how firefighters work to rescue people trapped inside cars post traffic accident – a much more common occurrence here, unfortunately.

We got to climb the trucks, check out tools, equipment and uniforms, and speak to firefighters and volunteers.

All in all, an educational and hands-on way to spend an afternoon.

Climbing the trucks was obviously the best part:

Even Bebe got in on the action:

I was impressed with the turnout:

I do hope everyone walked away with new values and respect for our servicemen.

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