(NewsNation) — Miami Beach sent eight firefighters to Israel to help fill in for the first responders who were called to active military duty due to the ongoing war.
“Overnight Israel lost 600 of their 2,500 firefighters to go to the front lines to fight, and we’re going to be going to help out and running calls for them,” said Captain Adonis Garcia with Miami Beach Fire.
The firefighters are scheduled to help out in firehouses in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for two weeks. New pictures show the volunteers have already begun training with Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Authority.
“The fact that almost none of them are Jewish was even more significant. This can’t be just a challenge for Jews, it has to be a challenge for non-Jews as well. Because anywhere there is terror, anywhere there is this kind of strife has to be the center of the world,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told NewsNation.
“I think they realize they’re going into an area that has a lot of strife and conflict right now. Before they left, I met with them and their families. The families because frankly, they’re the ones who will sometimes bear the brunt of worry more than anyone else,” Gelber added.
Firefighters from around the country, including New York, are also stepping up to fill the need in Israel, but to the firefighters of Miami Beach, this is a personal cause.
In 2021, a 12-story oceanfront condo building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, just minutes away from the Miami Beach fire station. Afterwards, members of the Israeli Defense Forces flew to South Florida to help search through the rubble and help with recovery.
“They watched as Israeli forces came to help us in the Champlain Towers after that terrible collapse and they felt like this was the place they needed to be,” said Gelber about the disaster that killed 98 people.
The firefighters now serving in Israel likely see it as a way of returning the favor from two years ago.
The group received an emotional send-off that involved the uniformed firefighters and a group of children holding Israeli and U.S. flags.
