By Gina Childress
The Wilson Daily Times
RALEIGH, N.C. — Dail Hernandez’s sense of duty as a firefighter stretches far beyond Wilson. It reaches to Central America.
Hernandez, 30, a native of Honduras, is the first Hispanic firefighter employed by the city.
Hernandez has worked here for the last six years. He’s also works part-time with the Raleigh and Bethesda fire departments.
Hernandez knows first-hand how economically challenged some Central American communities are when it comes to firefighting. He began working in a fire department in Honduras when he was 14 years old.
For the last five years, Hernandez has been traveling to different places in Central America donating equipment and providing training.
“A lot of these companies (fire departments) don’t have any turnout gear,” he said. “They attempt to fight fires in their regular clothes. They don’t have air packs so they have to fight the fires from the outside of the building and if someone is trapped inside there isn’t much they can do.”
Hernandez collects various items, such as air packs, turn out gear, boots, helmets and gloves, that are being replaced at various departments around North Carolina, makes sure they are in good condition then donates them. Some of the departments that have helped with his mission are Redwood, Bethesda, Bay Leaf, Sans, East Nash, Lenior, Spring Lake, Wendell and Wilson.
Hernandez uses his vacation and personal time to make these trips. Currently, he has trips planned for February and May.
He has teamed up with Richard Zawislak, a firefighter from Portsmouth, Va., currently working in Iraq as a contract firefighter. One of the proudest donations Hernandez said he has made was an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
Hernandez said that a lot of tourists go to Honduras to scuba dive because of the crystal waters.
“I found out they didn’t have one and knew how important it was, so I went out and purchased one and donated it to rescue workers there,” he said. “And not soon after that, they told me about an American who was there that coded and because they had that equipment, his life was saved. Without it, he probably would have died.”
Copyright 2009