metro »
Volunteer firefighters from around the world gathered
for a photo during the closing ceremonies.
Lending A Hand
Local firefighter helps extinguish
Israel’s mass forest fires.
Erin Ben-Moche | Special to the Jewish News
F
or those who know Jerry Eizen,
it’s apparent his heart is bigger
than his laugh or his height —
which is impressive considering he is at
least 6 feet tall. He lends a hand to any-
one and everyone.
That’s why it wasn’t surprising when
he jumped on a plane to help fight the
fires in Israel.
Eizen, now retired, worked as a fire-
fighter for 27 years with the Farmington
Hills Fire Department and Livonia Fire
and Rescue. That is how he learned
about the Jewish organization EVP.
“I had known about it and done my
Eli Filo, the chief of the Kfar Saba
Fire Department and Jerry Eizen
training in both Israel and Baltimore, so
I was just waiting for when they needed
me,” Eizen said.
The Emergency Volunteers Project
(EVP) is an organization authorized by
the Israeli government that trains profes-
sional and nonprofessional first respond-
ers to support Israel during an attack.
They called Eizen the night of
Thanksgiving to tell him he would be
going to fight the mass forest fires in
Israel.
“Thursday evening I was going on
standby and started getting my things
together,” Eizen said. “Friday morning
I received an email saying to get ready
because flight info was on its way.”
Eizen is married to Becky and father
to three boys, Sander, Ari and Micah.
Although they were all a little over-
whelmed by the situation, they jumped
in to help him get ready.
“It was pretty chaotic,” recalls Micah,
who attends Farber Hebrew Day
School with Ari. Sander is a University
of Michigan student. “I was proud of
him, but we were nervous because it is
dangerous there and we knew what was
going on at the time.”
ANSWERING THE CALL
The Oak Park firefighter landed in Israel
on Nov. 27, still in disbelief that he was
actually there to help. Eizen, along with
38 other EVP members, was dispersed
throughout many bases to help in any
way possible.
“We went on fire runs for the Israelis
so they could take a break, and we also
cleaned up areas so they could rest,”
Eizen said. “We weren’t guests; we were
continued on page 18
16 December 22 • 2016