from The Jerusalem Post:

Carmel blaze ‘under better control,’ says fire chief

The Carmel Mountain Range blaze was under better control on Sunday morning, Fire Chief Shimon Romah told Army Radio. While saying that this was the best state the fire-fighting teams had found themselves since the blaze began on Thursday, he added that only cautious optimism should be exercised because winds had picked up overnight.

More than thirty fire-fighting aircraft resumed operations early on Sunday morning, and prepared to drop fire-fighting materials and water on the four remaining areas of fire in Israel’s North. Among the aircraft was the Evergreen Supertanker aircraft that landed in Israel overnight. The privately owned US Boeing 747, the largest fire-fighting aircraft in the world – landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport and was set to make its first flight over the fire at around 6 a.m, a senior IAF officer said. The plane can carry 80 tons of water and fire retardant.

On Saturday night, the Israel police predicted that the fire, the worst in the country’s history, would hopefully be brought under control if not completely doused by the end of Sunday.

The expectation was that the blaze, which has ravaged 50,000 dunams (12,500 acres) in and around the Carmel Mountain Range and killed 41 Israelis, would be largely defeated with the arrival of the last of 33 aircraft dispatched to the emergency effort by countries from around the world.