Miami Beach to send 13 firefighters to Israel in effort to provide help to war-torn region
MIAMI -- Miami Beach Commissioners agreed Wednesday to send just over a dozen firefighters to Israel in an effort to help the country following the terrorist attack two weeks ago by Hamas.
At least 13 firefighters asked to go to the Middle East after Israeli first responders who were called to war left unfulfilled needs in many pockets of the community that the men and women of the Miami Beach fire want to meet.
The move is similar to an exchange of first responders that occurred when the Surfside condominium building collapsed two years ago.
Miami Beach firefighters volunteer to help Israel
Miami Beach officials said the effort to send the 13 firefighters abroad began with a recent call to Miami Beach Fire Department Chief Virgil Fernandez.
"It gave me absolute pride," he said about the call in which the proposal was first floated.
The sense of elation spread to City Hall when other officials learned about the effort to help Israel, which is still reeling from the attack two weeks ago that left at least 1,400 people dead.
Israel has resulted by declaring war on Hamas and pounding the Gaza Strip in an effort to root out the terrorists.
Miami Beach Vice Mayor Stephen Meiner was emotionally moved when he heard about the response by his city's firefighters.
"I got choked up," he said.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber also was alerted to the response by his firefighters.
"They want to help," he said of the crews that have asked to be dispatched to the Middle East.
Said Miami Beach City Commissioner Stephen Meiner: "The fact that our own firefighters from Miami Beach are proactively offering to help out means the world to me."
Many of the firefighters who volunteered to be dispatched to Israel also went to Haiti after devastating earthquakes in that country a few years back.
Israel helps Surfside, Florida building collapse victims
The trip to the Middle East by the Miami Beach firefighters evokes a similar exchange that occurred following the tower collapse in Surfside in 2021.
The condo building tumbled down during the overnight hours, killing 98 people and injuring dozens of others.
The Israeli Defense Forces sent several of its members to the coastal Florida town to help comb through the rubble and provide aid and support to the city, which has a large Jewish population.
Miami-Dade County officials staged a farewell ceremony when the IDF members returned to Israel.
Logistics planning for travel to the Mideast
Meiner called people he knows in Israel to find the best places in the country where the Miami Beach volunteers can be dispatched.
"Some people were actually like, 'This is so incredible I don't even know how to handle this,'" Meiner said. "I don't even know where to go. But ultimately I reached the right organization that was trying to put together these types of groups."
They soon had a plan with enough firefighters willing to go that the city could send groups of 12 at a time once the City of Miami Commission agreed.
"This is no different than what we do when (firefighters) went to Haiti in 2010," Fernandez said. "We are part of a team that gets deployed. We'll backfill those positions."
So, all four city fire stations will remain fully staffed during deployments to Israel.
After ensuring the city had proper insurance and benefits covered for firefighters going overseas, commissioners voted to allow the move.
"This is something that we need," Mayor Gelber said.
Miami Beach firefighters will hardly be the only South Floridians providing support. Hatzalah South Florida also announced plans to send 120 paramedics to Israel.