The 159 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue members who provide emergency response to Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove are back home after pulling survivors from collapsed buildings in Venezuela for eight days.

Florida Task Forces One and Two landed at Miami International Airport early Monday, July 6, with 11 search canines in tow. Fire Rescue Chief Ray Jadallah met the crews on the tarmac.

"You folks are the faces of hope to the thousands, tens of thousands of Venezuelans that are out there," Jadallah told the assembled rescuers, according to WLRN. "Hold your heads up real high, because you guys are absolute heroes."

The U.S. Department of State activated both task forces after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, June 25, registering magnitudes of 7.5 and 7.2 within a minute of each other. The quakes were centered off the coast west of Caracas. Venezuelan authorities reported 2,954 dead as of Sunday, July 5, with 189 buildings confirmed collapsed and more than 16,000 people left homeless.

Task Force One staged out of its Homestead warehouse on Friday, June 26, loading pallets of specialized equipment before departing that evening.

Among the deployed members was Captain German Leal, a 15-year veteran of Task Force One who grew up in Venezuela. Leal told WLRN the scene on the ground was devastating, describing buildings down, people everywhere, and conditions that made the work difficult. He said the mission was personal: he usually travels to Venezuela on vacation to see family, but this time the uniform was on and it was time to go to work.

On Thursday, July 2, members of Task Force Two helped free Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard trapped in a collapsed basement in Catia La Mar for eight days. The extraction took hours. Rescuers described it as extremely tedious, comparing it to playing Jenga because any wrong move could bring rubble crashing down on the victim and crews deep inside the structure, the Associated Press reported.

Task Force One is among the nation's most experienced urban search-and-rescue units, with prior deployments to the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center collapse, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2021 Surfside building collapse five miles from Key Biscayne.

The 159 personnel and 11 canines worked alongside more than 3,200 international rescue workers deployed to Venezuela, according to Venezuelan government figures.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue serves as the primary fire, rescue, and emergency medical services agency for Key Biscayne. Residents can reach MDFR's non-emergency line at 786-336-7000.