
Raging bushfires forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from parts of Israel's third city Haifa on Thursday as firefighters struggled to control blazes across the country.

Some residents were trapped in their homes as the army called up reservists to help cope with a third day of fires which authorities speculated could have been started deliberately.

Haifa municipality spokeswoman Or Doron told AFP that 50,000 of the city's roughly 250,000 residents had been evacuated.

Haim Outmezgine has volunteered with the Zaka rescue and medical service for 22 years but said, 'I've never seen an incident like this.' He was in Haifa, helping locals to evacuate and deal with the shock.

Though not a firefighter, he was dousing the small fires, to free up the fire trucks for the major blazes. 'Everywhere we go we see flames,' he said.

Flames more than 30 feet high were threatening several multi-storey tower blocks in Israel's third city of Haifa

An emergency personnel member evacuates a woman as a wildfire burns in the northern Israeli city of Haifa

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said residents in eight neighbourhoods had been told to leave due to six separate fires, with four evacuation centres set up.

'It is suspicious that they started at the same time in six different areas in Haifa,' he said. 'We received reports and found it suspicious enough to believe that someone was behind the incidents.'

He said that people were seen running away from fire scenes, further increasing suspicions, and stated that four people have been questioned in connection with a blaze near Jerusalem.

Rosenfeld said that more that 60 people have been taken to hospital as a result of smoke inhalation, with all bar one were classed as not seriously injured.

Residents spoke of a desperate rush to get elderly residents out.

'The fire is out of control and is spreading from one house to the other,' the rescue services chief in the Carmel neighbourhood, Naftali Rottenberg, told public radio.

'Sometimes we are taking residents out against their will.'

Yael Hame, a Haifa resident who fled her house, said it was 'very frightening'.

Israeli volunteers help extinguish a fire in the northern port city. The fires have already burned for three days

'The fire was up over the skyscrapers. It came up to 20 stories high.'

Hame said she thought the fire was 'much more dangerous' than a blaze in 2010 in Haifa that killed 44 people -- the deadliest in Israeli history.

British-born Gabi Oster, 19, has been on the front line in the Haifa area. She is part of a Haifa-based student volunteering programme, which has been helping some of the tens of thousands of residents who have been told to evacuate their homes.

On Thursday evening she was volunteering in Zichron Yaakov just south of Haifa, where one of the first fires covered the whole town with smoke on Tuesday, forced many people to evacuate, damaged dozens of homes and left around 10 families with empty shells.

Recalling the initial chaos as flames made their way from the forest towards entire neighbourhoods she said: 'A lot of people needed help. There were people who left everything, whose homes burned down, which was awful to see.'

A car drives past burning trees as a wildfire rages in Haifa. The city's streets were largely empty, with remaining residents leaving by foot or car

Nursery schools in the town have been closed, as staff have scraped ash off toys and games. Oster helped to evacuate a nursery, which has since been closed. The town's elderly are in a daze, and have welcomed the help of her group.

'Some of the old people have been very shaken up -- they didn't know at first what happened to their homes and were very concerned,' said Oster.

As Zichron Yaakov residents discussed their town's trauma on Thursday, the smell of burning in nearby Haifa hung thick over the streets. Avran Michael, a 30-year-old pizza delivery man, said his eyes were itching and he was having difficulty breathing.

Israelis drive past a fire, as areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by strong dry winds

He took his motorcycle past the homes of regular customers whose houses have been badly damaged or destroyed. The sight left him 'very very sad.'

Ido Tito, a 19-year-old who works in an off-license was feeling 'very angry' that arson is suspected. He said that the fire was 'one of the worst experiences of my life.'

Tito said: 'It was really scary. I went to help families get out of their homes and saw people running and screaming. Someone was trying to find their little sister. I ran around, looking for her, and then raced around knocking on doors, telling people to get out.'

A huge red cloud fills the sky as an Israeli firefighter plane helps extinguish the bushfire, which authorities believe could have been started deliberately

Around 30 people were hospitalised with mild injuries, according to the city's Ramban Hospital. Haifa University was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

A number of countries made immediate pledges of support including planes, as meteorologists said conditions meant fires were likely to continue for the coming days.

Areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by the strong dry winds, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Planes dropping water and powder swooped over the Romema neighbourhood every few minutes, trying to keep the flames from spreading to a nearby gas station.

Firefighting aircraft were sent to Israel from countries including Greece, Italy and Turkey as 50,000 of the city's 250,000 residents have been forced to flee

The streets were largely empty, with remaining residents leaving by foot or car, some holding surgical masks to their faces.

Dozens of soldiers, police, medics and firefighters were huddled in an impromptu command centre in a nearby parking lot.

Daher said a number of residents remained stuck in their homes.

Amit, a 27-year-old from a nearby neighbourhood, was volunteering with firefighters to help calm the blaze.

'There were places that needed help, we went and put out some fires,' he said.

Israeli authorities have evacuated up to 20 percent of Haifa's 250,000 residents, as people living in eight neighbourhoods had been told to leave due to six separate fires, with four evacuation centres set up

The emergency prompted a growing list of countries to send help, including firefighting aircraft. They included Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

Russian President Putin told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Moscow 'would immediately send two giant Beriev be-200 firefighting aircraft,' a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

The 2010 fire required the assistance of planes and personnel from more than 16 countries to put out.

Israel has been hit by a spate of bushfires in recent days across the country that officials attribute to an unusually dry autumn and strong winds.

Areas in southern Haifa were engulfed in smoke, the air thick with ash carried by the strong dry winds, as firefighters battled to control the flames

Elsewhere, fires were raging in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Noah Wolfson, head of the Meteo-Tech meteorology website, said the conditions were perfect for fires to be sparked -- whether by accident or on purpose.

'This November is extremely dry. So far we didn't have any rain,' he said.

'The extreme dryness -- relative humidity below 10 percent -- coupled with very strong winds, enhance and encourage any small fire to expand and be horrendous.'

Flames blazed in the woods around Haifa, as elsewhere, fires were raging in two areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem as well as near the Jewish settlement of Talmon in the occupied West Bank

He said the forecast for the coming days was not optimistic, with winds due to slow somewhat but no rain expected until early next week.

Speculation in Israel quickly turned to the source of the fires.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told army radio that around half of the recent fires had been started deliberately.

Israelis flee their homes as a fire rages - with many people believing them to have been deliberately started. Officials have also attributed the fires to an unusually dry autumn and strong winds

Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party appeared to blame the arson on members the country's Arab minority.

'Only those to whom the land doesn't belong are able to burn it,' he said on Twitter in Hebrew.

One of Haifa's most prominent Arab residents, Ayman Odeh, leader of the main Arab party in Israel's parliament, the Joint List, said that acts of arson are 'terrible crimes.'

He said in a TV interview: 'Whoever did this is an enemy of all of us.'

Odeh wrote on Facebook in Arabic and Hebrew: 'Now time to pull together and volunteer, Arabs and Jews, and to help to evacuate the elderly and anyone who need help.

Experts say that the fires follow the trend of terror conducted without conventional weapons. The fatal wave of terror against Israeli targets that has been going on for the last year has often involved items as simple as knives and even scissors.