North Caldwell firefighter volunteers for eye-opening month with Israeli colleagues

by Gil Hoffman
NJJN Jerusalem Correspondent

JERUSALEM — Daniel Newman of North Caldwell has volunteered for his town’s fire department for two-and-a-half years, gaining experience in fighting fires and learning how to handle terrorist attacks and other mass casualty incidents. He also volunteers as an EMT with the West Essex First Aid Squad.

But nothing in New Jersey could have prepared him for his experience in the Beersheba Fire Department, where the firefighters not only fight fires and save lives but struggle with second-class status in a country that better appreciates the IDF, Magen David Adom emergency service, and the state police more than it does its firefighters.

“The firefighters here are fighting for respect,” the 20-year-old Newman said. “It’s a different world. The firemen get no respect here.”

The Jewish Agency for Israel has many programs that try to ignite passion for Israel in young Diaspora Jews while at the same time helping the Jewish state. The Firefighters for Israel (Lehavot) program is a new way to give them that spark.

The program, cosponsored by the Israeli Fire and Rescue Commission and the Friends of Israel Firefighters, offers participants like Newman a monthlong, hands-on experience volunteering in Israeli fire departments in Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Eilat. The volunteers get to explore Israel while making a meaningful contribution to its safety and security.

“Our ultimate goal is to light a fire for Israel under our participants and give them a good experience in Israel and with Israelis,” said Dara Winston, formerly of East Brunswick, who directs the program out of the agency’s Jerusalem office. “The program also gives the people of Israel moral support, so that they know that Jews in the Diaspora care about them and that the relationship goes both ways.”

Fifteen young North American Jews participated in the program’s pilot trip in January and a similar number is expected in August. A smaller group of six volunteers came to Israel on the program in July, including Newman.

The treatment of firefighters in Beersheba — who were on strike during Newman’s stay — was surprising for the young New Jerseyan, who wanted to help Israel deal with its severe shortage of firefighters.

He said that the number of firefighters in the United States averages one for every 600 or 700 people, compared to one for every 8,000 in Beersheba.

“What we are doing by coming on this program is helping Israel because of the small number of firefighters here,” said Newman, the son of Wendy and Scott Newman, members of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell. “I love being a fireman because I love putting out fires, the brotherhood involved, and helping people. I want to use my skills from home to help the people over here. It’s a Jewish, humanitarian, and cultural thing.”

“I love being a fireman because I love putting out fires, the brotherhood involved, and helping people. I want to use my skills from home to help the people over here. It’s a Jewish, humanitarian, and cultural thing.”

Winston said firefighters get overlooked in Israel, where nearly all the buildings are made of stone and cement. They also are neglected in terms of financial support from the government.

“In the United States, firefighters are seen as heroes, especially since 9/11,” Winston said. “In Israel, not only are there more fires than you think, but they also deal with everything that has to do with saving lives, from terrorist attacks to the collapse of the Versailles wedding hall [in Jerusalem in 2001]. There are forest fires here every summer here, burning down trees that are so dear to us, that people plant with their hearts.”

Newman began working in Beersheba the day after the IDF arrested a suicide bomber trying to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, who intended to blow herself up in Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital. Had the IDF not caught the woman, Newman’s first day on the job might have been spent putting out a fire in one of Israel’s largest hospitals.

Asked what he would do if such an attack takes place while he is on duty, Newman answered nonchalantly that he would take orders and “follow mass casualty incident procedures.”

The majority of the program participants do not have actual firefighting experience, so they are not allowed into burning buildings. But they are trained in the fire stations and taught how to use equipment, hold the fire hose, and help with rescues.

One of the goals of the program is to learn Hebrew. Newman said he has learned such important firefighting words as “zamnuk” (fire hose) and “maznek” (nozzle). He said he learned how to say “cat in a tree,” but he has not yet been involved in any feline rescues because in the Negev “there are plenty of cats but hardly any trees.”

Newman has been working 10-hour shifts and fighting several fires a day, including at least one each day in which lives were at risk. He said the overwhelming majority of the fires he has fought were the result of arson, including three brush fires in two days near a school.

During one particularly memorable incident, he was sent to put out a hay fire in a bedouin village — but there was no hydrant and his fire truck had insufficient water to put out the blaze. He also participated in putting out a fire in a palm tree, something he certainly never had the opportunity to do in New Jersey.

Looking back on the program in Israel so far, Newman said that he was glad he came and that he chose the right program for him. He said he was also happy he had not had to handle the results of a terrorist attack.

Newman said he would recommend the program to anyone who has sufficient knowledge of Hebrew and wants to gain experience as a firefighter. Winston said she wanted more young adults to consider the program as a way to do their part to contribute to Israel in a meaningful way. “People who want to come to Israel are looking for additional options and different adventures and challenges that they wouldn’t get at home,” she said, “and they get to help Israel at the same time.”