Families, friends, political figures welcome Miami Beach firefighters back from Israel

David J. Neal
·4 min read
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When eight Miami Beach Fire Rescue workers returned from a two week deployment in Israel, they hadn’t been on loan from just Miami Beach. Also giving them up were families who knew there would be a difference between common fire rescue dangers and fire rescue life in the middle of an actual war.

So when Capt. Adonis Garcia, Capt. David Garcia, Lt. Robert Gibson, Lt. Zvi Hirsh, firefighter Carlos Lang; Deputy Chief Juan Mestas; Capt. Javier Rivero and Capt. Douglas Thompson on Sunday arrived back to Miami Beach Fire Rescue headquarters, hugs of relief from family and friends greeted them first.

Then came the appreciation from the local Jewish community and laudatory words from Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez and Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.

As enthusiastically as Capt. Adonis Garcia asserted that he’s ready to go back again, his voice caught as he said the hardest part was “hearing my father, who i never heard cry in my whole life — never, never cry to me — crying to me, telling me that he didn’t want me to go, but he was proud of the fact that I was going. That inspired me even more.”

Kelly Gibson’s experienced all of Lt. Ron Gibson’s 30-year career with him. But, she said with a chuckle, “I didn’t think he was ever going to go to a war zone.”

Gibson added: “Knowing the things that are going on over there. He’s got two sons here who still need him. It worried me a lot. It’s a lot different knowing anything could happen. Terrorism is just...it’s not selective. It’s random. It’s so uncertain. Everything was uncertain.”

Gibson’s a teacher and head tennis coach at Miami Palmetto Senior High, where she said she has many Jewish and Palestinian students who were supportive of her while dealing with their own questions and concerns over the Israel-Hamas war.

The latest conflict began with an attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants who targeted towns, farming communities and a music festival near the Gaza border. Israeli officials say at least 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mainly in the initial Hamas attack, the Associated Press reports. Israel has responded with weeks of attacks in Gaza, which have killed more than 11,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza — most of them Palestinian civilians.

Group chats provided daily communication among the eight-member team and their spouses. It morphed into a vital outlet as the the crew got split into pairs, assisting the cities of Haifa, Jerusalem, Sharon, Ayala. They replaced Israeli first responders who had been called into military service as part of the Israeli Defense Force reserves after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.

Following the attacks, the Miami Beach Commission unanimously voted to authorize international travel for any volunteers who wished to go. Temple Beth Sholom and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation paid the airfare and travel expenses.

Capt. David Garcia, left, receives a “welcome home” hug from his niece, Sole Diaz, 12, on Sunday. He was among the eight Miami Beach Fire Rescue members who had been deployed to Israel and who were welcomed back by their families, fellow first responders, elected officials, and residents at Miami Beach Fire Station 2. Story, 3A More on the Hamas-Israel war, 8A

Fire rescue life during wartime

“The first night we got there, going into a bunker to get away from a rocket was very different for me,” Adonis Garcia said. “Just surreal. and then we had to do it multiple times. Pretty different than we have here in the States.”

Garcia said they quickly bonded with their Israeli counterparts, sharing similar fire rescue worker stories and humor. He noted his hosts’ hospitality and how they welcomed him to his first Shabbat dinner.

Then came the work, some of which was pedestrian. House fires and rollover crashes happen during peacetime in Miami Beach, too.

But, a fire rescue truck in South Florida doesn’t roll with two soldiers armed with M-16 rifles, as Garcia described. Israeli Defense Force guards even accompanied them to grocery stores, where Garcia said the locals warmly welcomed them.

“We went to a place where a rocket had gone in,” Garcia said. “You could see the rocket in the apartment, the shrapnel from the rocket...The alerts you get on your app that there’s a rocket coming, we were in an area where you had 30 seconds to get to a shelter. That was an eye opener, very different.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I’m ready to go back.”