In May 2005, on Lag BaOmer (Jewish holiday commemorated with bonfires), a wildfire broke out on a hill near Matan, a small Israeli town around 20 minutes drive from Tel Aviv. When not busy watering my back yard and the trees and plants so they wouldn't catch fire from sparks flying through the air, I took some photos. As the wind direction frequently changed, fire fighters had a difficult time controlling the fire, which rapidly spread over a large area. When the wind turned east to west, we residents of Matan suddenly found ourselves in real danger of our houses being burned down. Fire fighters as well as residents put up a fight against the flames, and luckily we won. The fire came as close as 20m to the houses, including mine.