Three Tampa Fire Rescue firefighters were honored Friday after taking on a dangerous overseas search-and-rescue mission in the aftermath of Venezuela’s twin earthquakes. Their work included hauling supplies into a disaster zone, searching unstable ruins for missing relatives and helping free a survivor trapped beneath a collapsed parking garage.
At a Tampa recognition event, city leaders and local Venezuelan organizations praised firefighter Alex Canasi, Capt. Ben Kozich and Capt. Joe Berres for their service, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Councilman Luis Viera and Fire Rescue Chief Barbara Tripp joined the gathering, where the firefighters were thanked for representing Tampa in a catastrophe thousands of miles away.
The mission also carried a personal weight for Canasi. After learning that his friend and colleague, Lt. Cesar Nino, had family missing, Canasi contacted Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue; Local 10 reported that the nonprofit sent a team into northern Venezuela as the response expanded from search and rescue to humanitarian aid.
A Personal Search Amid Widespread Destruction
Canasi and Kozich delivered supplies and searched for Nino’s relatives, whose 12-story family building had collapsed into a mass of concrete and debris. Nino ultimately lost four family members, while telling FOX 13 that he never felt alone in the collapse zone, a reflection of the support from his Tampa Fire Rescue colleagues.
Berres deployed separately with Florida Task Force alongside Patron, his search-and-rescue K-9. The pair helped rescue a man from a collapsed parking garage after about three days of digging, though Berres said other sites were too unstable even for the dog to enter, the station reported.
Recovery Continues After Venezuela’s Deadly Quakes
The rescue mission unfolded after two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, struck Venezuela on June 24. Government figures cited by the Associated Press put the toll at more than 5,000 dead, nearly 17,000 injured and almost 18,000 people left homeless, while authorities had not released a definitive count of those still missing.
Tampa’s firefighters were part of a wider Florida response. The Miami Herald reported that Miami Fire-Rescue personnel were also honored after an eight-day deployment, while the Rays’ charitable foundation announced a $100,000 commitment to World Central Kitchen for earthquake relief, according to the Tampa Bay Rays.
