After battling for days and struggling between life and death, Haifa police chief Commander Ahuva Tomer died this morning at Rambam Medical Center of her injuries sustained in the Carmel fire. The funeral will be held at 3 pm at the Nahariya cemetery.
Tomer was posthumously promoted to Police Brigadier General. Israel Police commanders are now meeting at Rambam Medical Center. It seems that senior officers are struggling to deal with the loss, and many of them were in tears.
Fireman Danny Hayat, who was injured in the fire, is still at Rambam Medical Center, where his condition is severe, but stable. The condition of Israel Prison Service Cadet Jalal Bisan, who was critically injured in the bus that was engulfed by the fire, is life threatening.
Commander Tomer was appointed Haifa police chief in October 2008. She made history as the first woman to command a post of this size - the Haifa police station is the largest in Israel.
On Thursday evening, Commander Tomer was part of the convoy going to evacuate Kibbutz Beit Oren. When she heard that a bus had been caught in the fire, she rushed to the scene, but was also trapped in the flames that destroyed the bus carrying Prison Service cadets. The fire reached Tomer's car, giving her no chance to escape.
A few minutes before heading out to the fire, Tomer said, "I am looking at the fire. It pains the heart to see the Carmel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 6, 2010
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