Assistant fire chief shows compassion in the wake of tragedy

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) Assistant Fire Chief Raied (Ray) Jadallah, a 25-year veteran of the fire service, has had a distinguished career with MDFR. Throughout his over 21 years of service with MDFR, Chief Jadallah has served in various ranks, including fire lieutenant, fire captain, chief fire officer, and currently as assistant fire chief.

Most recently, Assistant Fire Chief Jadallah tackled the most difficult assignment of his career to date. On June 24, 2021, he spearheaded the challenging efforts of briefing the families and friends of the victims who perished at the condo building collapse at Surfside. For over 3 weeks, Chief Jadallah and Firefighter Maggie Castro faced the families, at least twice a day, to provide them with information that was oftentimes painful and difficult.

"There is no script for this. That's why it made it so difficult, so different, and if there were a script, you wouldn't be able to follow it," said Chief Jadallah.

Jadallah, a veteran of the fire service with extensive operational experience, never imagined being tasked with handling such a situation that went beyond his operational background. Chief Jadallah wanted to be able to provide families with the most current information in order to help them understand and process the tragedy that unfolded at Surfside in the early morning hours of June 24th. "It's my community, my family members, 3 million residents in Miami-Dade County are my family members," said Jadallah. "And, at the end of the day, I treated every one of those individuals, every family member, every person, regardless of where they came from, as if they were my family, and they saw it."

It was this trust built on the grounds of transparency that led Chief Jadallah and Firefighter Maggie Castro to be featured in a CBS4 hour-long special called Bonded by Tragedy: 30 Days in Surfside.

"Through this unthinkable tragedy, our first responders and people across our community united in sorrow, leaning on each other for strength and support," said Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "I am very proud of the efforts of those first responders who were present in mind, body, and soul. I am especially proud of Chief Jadallah and Maggie for their ability to handle such a difficult situation with the humbleness, heart, and deep empathy for the families that were so essential for this task. They were with the families day in and out as the main bearers of information, and earned their trust."

As the MDFR Assistant Chief of Operations, Chief Jadallah is responsible for over 2,100 operational personnel. He oversees the vital services of fire, rescue, and emergency services to the residents and visitors of Miami-Dade County. In addition, he oversees all airport operations and special operations, including marine services, air rescue, hazmat, and the urban search and rescue team, FLTF-1.