Gino was one of 18 members of IDF Home Front Command who were sent to south Florida following the apartment building collapse on June 24, in an effort to try to rescue the victims under the pile of destruction.
“The situation is horrible of course and it was very difficult for us to deal with but it was amazing to work with the American search and rescue teams,” said Gino, Tuesday, a day after returning to Israel.
The American and Israeli delegations worked 12-hour days in the pile of rubble, searching for bodies and personal items. They were able to collaborate on the use of advanced technology in their search that aided in their rescue efforts.
“In the first days we had to try to understand what the best way to work together was, but after two days we worked great together,” Gino said.
Gino felt “more than welcomed” by the American first responders. Some of the American firefighters even hosted Israeli officers in the last days of their mission.
“We are like family over there,” Gino said of the American first responders, “I have all of their cell phone numbers and we shared a lot of emotional moments over there.”
Gino recalled a harrowing moment when the Israeli team discovered the body of a seven-year old firefighter’s daughter from the pile. The girl, Stella Cattarossi, was found alongside her mother, Graciela, in the rubble.
“When we rescued her it was a very emotional moment for everyone there,” Gino said.
For Gino it was essential to separate these emotional experiences from the work that he was doing, especially because he and his fellow soldiers stayed at the same hotel as the victims’ families and they interacted daily throughout the mission.
“Our commander would give the families an update every time we returned from working in the pile,” Gino said, “and they would ask questions like, ‘did you do any work on floor 8?’ or ‘have you heard anything about my Dad?’ and it was a very difficult situation.”
Gino said that he and the other members of their delegation would do their best to remain professional and precise in their work, despite these emotionally taxing interactions.
“You have to know that the mission is to rescue people,” Gino said, “and if you are mixed up with your feelings then it can be very difficult to do your job for 12 hours a day.”
Gino and his fellow officers worked until the last moments of their mission to rescue people. They returned to the pile to search within just a few hours of their return flights to Israel.
“We were lucky that we were able to locate people in those last moments in the area between the building and the collapsed building,” Gino said.
Gino praised the work of the American first responders and how they handled the entire situation.
“I think that the American first responders, the firefighters and the task force there did a great job in a very short amount of time,” Gino remarked.
Gino, who was also a member of the IDF search and rescue team for the 2014 Nepal snowstorm, sees it as the IDF Home Front Command’s duty to aid in all tragedies, like the one in Surfside, and around the world.
“It is our duty to be there,” Gino said, “and it was a great honor for me and for our delegation to help our [Israel’s] great ally, the United States of America.”