Miami Beach to send a dozen firefighters to Israel in effort to provide help to war-torn country

MIAMI — Miami Beach Commissioners agreed Wednesday to send firefighters to Israel in an effort to help the country following an 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 needs in their community that the men and women of the Miami Beach fire want to meet voluntarily.

Officials said the effort to send the help abroad began with a call to Miami Beach Fire Department Chief Virgil Fernandez.  

“It gave me absolute pride,” he said.    

Other city officials were also happy when they heard about the effort..

“I got choked up,” Miami Beach Vice Mayor Stephen Meiner said.

Mayor Dan Gelber line buzzed, too.

“They want to help,” Gelber said of the caller.

Commissioner Stephen Meiner’s cell also chimed.

“The fact that our own firefighters from Miami Beach are proactively offering to help out means the world to me,” he said.

Many of those who volunteered went to Haiti after devastating earthquakes. Still, Meiner called people he knows in Israel to find the best place to land and deliver volunteers.

“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.