When the call comes, you answer it, even if it comes 6,000 miles away.
In the last three months, 1,100 brush fires have hit Israel's southern communities, Yoram Levy, spokesperson for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, said.
The devastation hit home for two Baltimore firefighters, who flew to the Middle East to pitch in.
“It just doesn't matter,” Jeff Ellenbogen a volunteer firefighter in Baltimore said. “Firefighters have just an ingrained desire to be helpful.”
The fires were caused by explosive kites and balloons intentionally flown across the Gaza border into Israel, Levy explained.
Palestinians say the fires are in protest of the Israeli Occupation and the right of return for refugees, according to Al Jazeera.
“There’s scorched earth, acre after acre,” Ellenbogen said. “I mean I knew that this was going on for the past couple of months, but it took until getting here to realize the full extent of it.”
American firefighters say they're not interested in Middle East politics; they're propelled by altruism.
Ellenbogen and Scott Goldstein, are part of Emergency Volunteer Project (EVP), which trains, mobilizes and deploys emergency responders from the U.S. to help Israel during a crisis.
EVP organized a deployment mission and 10 volunteers from Texas, Florida, California, Michigan and Maryland, caught the first plane to fight fires along the Israel-Gaza border.
“It’s very hard to predict what an emergency or crisis will look like, but you know it when you see it,” Eitan Charnoff, an EVP spokesperson, said. “It could be large-scale fires, it could be rockets raining down on cities for days or weeks on end…relatively speaking the release of incendiary balloons is a new concept in Israel.”
Charnoff is a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Israel, and grew up Potomac, where he volunteered for Montgomery County Maryland Fire and Rescue. He enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces in 2012 and has volunteered for EVP for eight years.
When they get ‘the call,’ EVP volunteers will grab a small bag of necessities and their personal gear. They’re trained to be ready, and that means training in Israel.
Ellenbogen happened to be in Israel for an EVP training session when he got deployed. He made a quick call to his fire chief in Baltimore and got the okay to stay.
“There’s something that unites firefighters really all over the world..that’s this willingness to help, period, no matter what, no matter where, no matter when,” Charnoff said.
Pikesville Volunteer Fire Chief Scott Goldstein arrived July 21 and spent the next week in a sleepless blitz.
"Within a 10-kilometer border of Gaza you have significant devastation where everything is charred black," Goldstein said.
His lieutenants helped with the heavy lifting in Pikesville, while Goldstein served his third EVP deployment in the last four years.
Goldstein returned earlier this week, but Ellenbogen expects to remain in Israel until the second week of August. If the fires persist, EVP may send additional firefighters from the DC-area over, Charnoff said.
Currently, 45 volunteers wait on standby for ‘the call.’
Emergency Volunteer Project (EVP) is fully funded by donations. The Jewish Federations of North America helped fund recent operations. If you would like to donate your time as a certified emergency service member or money, click here.
Palestinians living in the Gaza strip receive emergency relief through donations to the United Nations.