On Sunday evening in the quiet Galilean town of Kfar Kana, a fire broke out in a residential house in the middle of the community. Five people were trapped inside the house and began suffering from smoke inhalation. Emergency response teams were called to the scene, and among the first to arrive was Ashraf Ayob, a volunteer EMT with Israel’s national volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) organization United Hatzalah.

“Coming from a different city, I arrived in less than six minutes, which was four minutes before the ambulance was able to arrive,” said Ashraf who left his house so fast that he didn’t even put socks on. “When I heard the report, I ran out of my house and I raced over to Kfar Kana to help as fast as I could,” Ashraf said. Ashraf, an Israeli Muslim who lives in Nazareth, was the first medical responder to arrive on the scene. Upon arrival, I assisted the Fire and Rescue department in extricating the family from their home that was engulfed in flames. “The family was trapped inside, and we used the neighbor’s ladder to get them out through a window,” Ashraf said after the incident.   

Ashraf has quite a few years of experience working as an EMT. He has been volunteering with the organization for the past three years. “United Hatzalah is a fantastic organization and knows how to treat its volunteers I have always wanted to help people, and this organization allows me the opportunity to do that in my own time and supports all of its volunteers. It is a great organization to be a part of.”

“The five trapped people all suffered light injuries, mainly smoke inhalation, and one of them had a slight laceration on his hand. Due to the cooperation and partnership of all of the first responders at the scene, we rescued and treated the family as quickly as possible, and we prevented a tragedy. It was inspiring to see the cooperation of all of the different groups working together to save those in need.” Ashraf concluded.