Commander of the IDF Home Front Command's Search and Rescue Brigade, Col. (res.) Yossi Pinto told Walla about the brigade's actions during the Israel-Iran war in an interview published on Friday.
Pinto described how he received a call from Home Front Command's headquarters on June 12 when Operation Rising Lion began. He was told, "It's happening," before he hung up, and immediately called his four unit commanders.
While the brigade has been deployed nationwide since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Pinto noted that the Home Front Command understood that the risk of damage from Iranian missile strikes was more serious.
The Search and Rescue brigade, which is ready for immediate action year-round, including boarding a plane and landing in disaster zones, began sharpening its capabilities and increasing readiness and alertness to the highest levels.
We are always on alert, Pinto stated. "In every private vehicle, you’ll find a ready-to-use rescue kit. One of the commanders was on his way abroad with his family. He turned the car around and rushed to the designated place according to the combat procedure. What was on my mind at that moment? Long days, for a month of fighting. That’s what I told everyone. I imagined heavy destruction events. On the first day, at the first situation assessment, I told everyone: This is the test of our lives. The brigade was designed for this moment."
'Our procedure is clear, to act'
Maj. A, is a 37-year-old reserve officer, married to a software engineer and a father of three, who is a mechanical engineer in his civilian life. However, he is also a company commander in the brigade. When a ballistic missile from Iran fell in Bat Yam, he was nearby in Holon with his soldiers.
"We heard the booms and understood that there's been an impact," A said.
"Our procedure is clear, to act. I arrived at the site carrying initial rescue equipment and search tools. We ran hundreds of meters to the impact site. There was chaos at the scene, destruction, injured people, civilians, a lot of people," he added.
"We started working. Our goal is to rescue as quickly as possible. I started to climb the impact site, seeing a 10-story building, with parts of the building, about one and a half floors in height, destroyed. Ten apartments, gone. There are a lot of response units, but you feel alone, in a deathly silence, a silence that you can't explain," he continued.
"What's the hardest part of searching through damaged apartments? Children," A stated. "There were two kids in the rubble. Later, we found an elderly woman who was dead. Dealing with the deceased is a difficult event."
"These are people whose home this was. There are worried civilians, and I need to get them to help us with the rescue, to know where to search. There’s always that one person looking for their mother. We will get them to a safe place, treat them briefly, gain details from them, and continue the search," A added.
"They have to ignore background noise. They could easily get sucked into a civilian screaming in hysterical stress. The teams are trained for these situations. To the untrained eye, it looks like chaos, but they are trained for this," Pinto added.
This includes how to handle "entering an apartment with open gas, electricity, or water infrastructure," Pinto noted, explaining that "each team member has added value and understanding in infrastructure, rescue, and saving, and there’s someone tasked with disconnecting these utilities."
Pinto showed Walla a video showing the rescue of a person trapped on the eighth floor of a building. He pointed out that the person who took it was an engineer standing on a building across the street with a laser beam that detects shifts in the building to assess if it is moving, with a chance of collapsing.
Maj. A also noted that he tries to forget the images, but an event from his team taking part in a rescue operation after the 2023 earthquake in Turkey sticks in his mind.
Home Front Command's Search and Rescue Brigade does not act alone at impact sites, though. They are assisted by other Home Front Command battalions, personnel from the Fire and Rescue Authority, Israel Police, Magen David Adom, and volunteers, such as those from the Yedidim organization.
"We are always preparing for any scenario," Pinto noted during the interview, which took place in his office.
"When I look at the brigade, men, women, 99% of whom are reservists, I say 'you can not operate a brigade like this, at this level, and with this intensity, without extreme commitment,'" he commented.