As horrific flames engulfed communities in the Jerusalem Hills simultaneous with fires raging across Israel, 16-year-old Daniel Ben Hemo became one of the two youngest firefighters to battle the blaze. For the Boys Town Jerusalem 11th grader, who has volunteered for the Fire Department for two years through the school’s community service program, fighting fires and helping others is precisely what he set out to do from the start.
“Last Tuesday I was in school when I got the emergency call-up,” the tall, dark-haired student recalled. “I rushed to the station to help prepare the firefighting vehicles for action, and restocked them all day and night.” Meanwhile the deadly combination of fierce winds and dry weather continually fueled the flames, ruthlessly spreading the fires. By Thursday, when terrorist acts of arson ravaged the country as well, Daniel became one of only two teenaged volunteers selected to join the firefighting team “on the scene” in the Jerusalem Hills.
“I’ve fought serious blazes over the past year, but nothing like these fires,” he admitted. “Imagine facing 65-foot flames, 60 mph winds and thick black smoke choking the air. Then the incredible happens: The officers take command, each firefighter goes into action, and within two to three hours, the flames are under control. Until the next blaze suddenly ignites…” From Tuesday until moments before the Sabbath on Friday evening, Daniel worked round the clock, sleeping only two hours a night.
Daniel began volunteering for the Fire Department before he was 15. Although his formal skills came from an intensive six-month course, the youth admits that his real education grew from sitting and learning from the firefighters at the station, “a warm, loving family.”
As Daniel fought the recent blaze shoulder to shoulder with several hundred professional firefighters, he used extreme caution. “I’ve been trained well, and ‘my’ firemen carefully protect me.”
As to the future, Daniel’s heart is now set on enlisting in the Air Force Aerial Firefighters. Afterwards, “I hope you’ll see me return to the fire station as a career officer, although I pray that fires will someday be totally prevented.”
Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel’s premier institutions for educating the country’s next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From junior high through the college level, the three-part curriculum at Boys Town—academic, technological and Torah—is designed to turn otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. Boys Town’s 18-acre campus is a home away from home for its more than 900 students. More than 7,000 graduates hold key positions throughout Israeli society. For more information, please visit our website at boystownjerusalem.org.
