Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian firefighters along other emergency personnel participated in a two-day training exercise, which was sponsored by the European Union, on how to respond to natural disasters, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

The multinational exercise, which was based in Israel, had teams of emergency workers battling the effects of simulated forest fires and earthquakes.

The exercise was called Middle East Forest Fires, though it challenged the rescue workers with earthquakes too.

The simulated forest fire “broke out” across Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, and firefighting teams from all three governments, aided by firefighters from Spain, Italy and France, attempted to contain it. The different teams also shared their techniques and cooperated during the exercise.

“The scenario is that a large fire breaks out and develops into a regional disaster. The blaze is then joined by additional disasters, going from one country to its neighbor,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry explained in a statement.

The exercise took place in the Lahav forest near Beersheba, and in a forest near Amatzia, southeast of Kiryat Gat. To give the exercise an extra dose of realism, smaller contained fires were also started in open areas near the forests. However, according to Yoram Levi, spokesperson for Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority, “There was a bit of fire, but with a lot of smoke.”

In a different exercise, simulating an earthquake, rescue teams from Israel, the PA, Jordan, and Spain, practiced rescuing people from rubble at an army base in southern Israel.

“It’s a huge exercise,”  said Lt. Col. Shlomi Ben-Yair, commander of the IDF Home Front Command’s Ram Battalion, which participated in the exercise. “We are practicing every aspect of a disaster.”

Of the more than 400 participants, half were from Israel. Jordan sent aircraft to fight fires, dozens of rescuers, firetrucks, and medical personnel. The PA sent firefighters and firetrucks. The European countries sent firefighters, medical teams, and firefighting planes to the exercises. Spain also sent search and rescue teams.

Israeli and Palestinian firefighters worked together last year fighting fires, some set by arsonists, that spread through the West Bank. Croatia and Italy, both of whom participated in this week’s exercise sent personnel last year to assist Israel in fighting a series of wildfires.

[Photo: Israel Fire & Rescue Authority / Facebook]