In 2024, 20 fires in Israel were caused by Hanukkah candles

As Israeli families kindle Hanukkah lights, fire safety awareness is a burning issue

Strict building codes and construction practices put fire-related deaths in Israel among the lowest in the world, but negligence is a leading cause of home blazes, especially during the holidays

On the second night of Hanukkah in the northern Israeli city of Afula, firefighters were called to the scene of a housefire after a neighbor reported flames rising from the apartment’s balcony. After the small blaze next to the family’s Hanukkah menorah was extinguished, the woman of the house told the fire officers what had happened: Her two children were playing with the burning candles while she stepped away for a few minutes.

“Fortunately, a disaster was averted here,” Israel Fire and Rescue Services said Monday night in a statement. “Do not leave menorahs unattended. Always place them in a safe, stable place and away from flammable materials.”

It was a scenario that many Israelis worry about, particularly during the Hanukkah holiday.

Fortunately, while Israelis tend to have relatively little awareness of fire safety principles compared to other countries, the country’s building codes have extremely strict fire safety requirements that make home fires much less deadly than in other Western countries, said Tiran Shemmer, chief fire prevention officer for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services.

Israel has one of the lowest rates of death from fires and burns in the world, with just 0.3 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. For comparison, the ratio in the United States is more than double that. About 20 to 40 people die from injuries related to fires in Israel every year, from about 30,000 urban blazes reported annually, Shemmer said. Of these, 80% occur in residential buildings, with the remainder in factories and commercial buildings.

(Wildfires in Israeli forests and parks are a different disaster category that is generally discussed separately.)

But that doesn’t mean families can be lax with fire safety during Hanukkah, when many families light candles at home. Last year, 20 fires related to negligence with Hanukkah candles were reported in Israel, a spokesperson for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said.

“About 80% of fires are caused by negligence,” Shemmer said. “If people were more aware of the risks surrounding candles, home fryers, heaters and other electrical appliances, it would unquestionably mean fewer fires.”

Structural safety

When it comes to building, Israeli construction companies rely almost exclusively on non-combustible materials that are resistant to fire, making large building blazes relatively rare, Shemmer said. Standard construction methods use reinforced concrete and cinder blocks, where wooden frames or drywall might be more commonly used in the United States.

Safety requirements designed to protect Israelis from missile attacks contribute to fire safety as well. A requirement since 1992 that all new homes must include a reinforced safe room (mamad in Hebrew) made of concrete effectively creates a fire-proof compartment within every dwelling.

If a fire starts outside a mamad, the room is designed to remain structurally sound for hours, while if a fire starts inside the mamad while the door is closed, it is likely to remain contained in the room and eventually go out due to lack of oxygen.

Furthermore, regulations in many cities require the exteriors of buildings to be clad in non-combustible stone finishes such as Jerusalem stone, protecting them from external fires that can “leap” from one building to another, Shemmer noted. Many countries around the world have updated their cladding requirements after a deadly 2017 fire in the Grenfell Tower in West London showed the danger of using combustible materials for building facades and insulation.

Last month’s massive building fire in Hong Kong, in which at least 128 people were killed in a fire that ignited eight 32-story towers, was due in large part to the use of unsafe exterior materials, including bamboo scaffolding and green mesh used for renovation work, experts say.

In addition to structural safety guidelines, Israeli construction laws require rigorous testing of building materials to ensure they do not produce toxic smoke or dripping flaming droplets. Regulations also draw from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) protocols in the United States regarding the requirement of fire sprinklers and extinguishers in many large buildings.

A 2021 government resolution aligned Israeli building codes more closely with the NFPA standard, which simplified bureaucracy and cut building and regulatory costs while loosening some of the strictest standards, Shemmer noted.

One area where Israel lags behind other countries is retrofitting. While new towers are built to high safety standards, many older walk-up apartments have no central fire systems, fire doors, or open stairwells that can act as chimneys for smoke, making smoke inhalation a serious risk during large fires.

Cultural risks

While Israeli buildings may be built for safety, Israelis don’t always have a burning desire to follow fire safety protocols, a challenge that Shemmer and his team are working to change.

“In Israel, you don’t have fire lanes on streets or areas designated for rescue vehicles,” Shemmer said. “In the United States, people know not to tamper with fire hydrants, but here, people use them to wash their cars. It’s a cultural difference we have to address.”

Use of smoke detectors, one of the simplest fire safety tools available, is generally believed to be low in Israel, although precise data is not available. A 2013 survey cited in a National Security Ministry presentation found that just 17% of Israeli households had smoke detectors installed, and that 50% had no fire safety equipment at all. However, building codes require independent smoke detectors in new homes, and several municipalities have partnered with nonprofits to install detectors in homes of vulnerable residents, Shemmer noted.

“We’re talking about a product that costs NIS 50 [$15] and is proven to save lives,” Shemmer said. “We can list dozens of cases where people can tell you how their smoke detector woke them up in time to get out of the house while their apartment burned down.”

Meanwhile, cheap synthetic materials like polyurethane foam, polyester, nylon, and acrylic, used in many products instead of more expensive traditional materials, make modern homes around the world much more susceptible to fire risks than in the past, Shemmer said.

“We call it the IKEA effect, although it’s a generational issue, not a problem with the company itself,” Shemmer said, referring to the global furniture company. “Once, furniture was made of solid wood that would require a lot of time and energy before it would burn. Now, a wooden table will go up in flames within seconds. Everything from clothes to sofas is more flammable now.”

That means a small flame can grow into a life-threatening flashover in as little as three minutes in modern homes, compared to an average of 15 minutes or more in previous decades, Shemmer said. This time difference can easily mean the difference between life and death, he added, especially when firefighters may have to fight traffic to reach sites quickly.

Furthermore, the lithium batteries powering e-bikes and scooters have become a fast-growing risk throughout Israel, as well as Europe, Shemmer said. About 250 battery-related fires are reported every year in Israel, he noted, making them the second-largest cause of house fires in Israel after electrical failures.

Problems with those usually start when kids start tampering with electronics against the manufacturer’s instructions.

“Normally, a product bought in a store shouldn’t catch fire, but many teenagers try to hack their scooters to make them faster and more powerful,” Shemmer said. “That’s where fires start.”

Hanukkah safety

Hanukkah has also become more dangerous in recent years, due in part to newfangled candles and wicks made of cheap materials, often covered with plastic, Shemmer said. But the biggest danger is simply not paying attention to fire hazards.

“People put the candles next to curtains, bookshelves, products made of plastic, without thinking about the dangers,” Shemmer noted. “The kindergartens and schools need to train pupils to tell their parents to be more careful where they light.”

For the holiday, Shemmer advised that people frying foods avoid filling pans to the top with oil, and that kids be wary of viral stunts and challenges involving fire that they see on social media.

Generally speaking, people sleeping with space heaters in the room should take extra care to ensure the device is far away from anything flammable, Shemmer said. Lithium batteries should only be charged under supervision, using original chargers, and never overnight. Extension cords should not be overloaded with multiple large appliances.

More importantly, always leave a key in the door when you lock it, or install a butterfly lock, to make sure you can easily escape if a fire erupts, Shemmer said.

“And don’t forget about the smoke detectors,” he added.