Firefighters are used to running toward danger to help save lives.
And, that kicked in for Long Island volunteer firefighter Schuyler Gordon when Israel was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7.
"I was feeling the same sort of helplessness and horror that a lot of American Jews were feelin. I started looking for volunteer opportunities. E.V.P. popped up in my Google searches," he told a CBS reporter.
Within a week he was deployed with Emergency Volunteers Project to put out fires from incoming Hamas rocket attacks sometimes 200-300 per day.
"I felt I couldn't just stay here safely ensconced in the United States when people over there were suffering," Gordon said. "If I had a skillset that would be useful there, I felt an obligation to use it."
The nonprofit has placed more than 60 firefighters, EMTs, doctors and nurses to help fill Israel's gap in services with their own first responders defending the country. The majority have no connection to Judaism or Israel.
FDNY Firefighter Jason Stukes added: "Israeli people are very humble, warm, welcoming. They were more shocked at 20 Americans out of their lives, their schedules to help somebody they didn't know."
