Four planes, a police helicopter and 5 fire teams were fighting a large scale blaze in Israel’s south-western Lachish region Saturday evening.

Firefighters succeeded earlier in putting out another fire that burned near Moshav Bircha, not far from Ofakim in the Negev.

Another fire broke out Saturday near Moshhav Roglit, not far from Beit Shemesh, in the mountains west of Jerusalem. One storehouse and two chicken coops burned to the ground and 14 homes were evacuated. Two planes and two fire crews were still on the scene, fighting the fire, Saturday evening.

Two fires broke out in or near Jerusalem before the Sabbath began – one near Har Nof and the other in the Peace Forest neat Armon Hanatziv, where arson has become a daily event.

There were also fires in the Galilee, near Machane Yiftach, at Korazim, and at Mashhad in the Lower Galilee.