BARRY BORTNICK
Courtesy of The Gazette, Colorado Springs
While millions watched the World Trade Center towers collapse, killing hundreds of New York City firefighters and thousands of civilians, another heroic firefighter struggled for life in a south Florida hospital.
Linda Hernandez, a Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue emergency medical technician and firefighter, never heard about the Sept. 11 tragedy or how so many New York firefighters died trying to save others.
As terrorists slammed planes into the towers, Hernandez lay unconscious, battling for life after complications from an on-the-job accident that damaged her liver and required a life-saving transplant.
IAFF Memorial Service
When: September 21, 2002
Where: Colorado Springs, CO
The 16th annual IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Ceremony,
is expected to be the largest in the memorial’s history. honoring IAFF members who were
killed in the line of duty between June 2001 and June 2002.
The Gazette's Everyday Heroes Series:
>> Visit: The Gazette Memorial
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The 37-year-old mother of one died a week later, Sept. 18. She is the only female firefighter with Miami-Dade to die in the line of duty.
Hernandez will be remembered Saturday when the International Association of Fire Fighters pays tribute in Colorado Springs to 42 5 colleagues who died between June 1, 2001, and May 31, 2002.
Of the names on the honor roll, 343 belong to New York City firefighters who died Sept 11.
Hernandez is among the 82 other firefighters who died in the United States and Canada last year.
Hernandez's health problems started March 28, 1999, when she responded to a routine building fire in northwestern Miami.
She arrived within five minutes and was ordered to ventilate the building's roof with a circular handsaw, known as a K-12.
Hernandez, along with several other firefighters, sliced through the building's tar roof and became enveloped in smoke while about 40 firefighters dealt with the burning structure.
Although roof ventilation is a common firefighting technique, Hernandez's routine hit a tragic snag when she ran out of bottled oxygen and was overcome by smoke.
She was treated for smoke inhalation and given a prescription medicine to deal with the lung damage.
But the medication damaged her liver, and within a year, Hernandez was near death.
She had a liver transplant in June 2000 and grew strong enough to return to desk duty at the Fire Department. But Hernandez's body eventually rejected the transplant, and her situation became grim.
"She had trouble breathing, and gradually everything got worse," said Ellen Higginbotham, a captain with Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue.
Hernandez's death shocked friends and colleagues in Miami, who described the Florida native as a mentally and physically superior person.
They say Hernandez was tough enough to beat the men at their own game. Strong enough to handle the grueling physical challenges of fire college. Dedicated enough to push other female firefighters through the demanding program.
She also was kind enough to make all around her smile.
"Linda always had a kind word for everyone," recalled Mary Giles, her friend and fellow Miami-Dade firefighter. "Her strength was not just physical, but also very emotional.
"She had the kindest, sweetest disposition I have ever seen. She always had something funny to say, even if something went wrong. She always made you laugh and kept you going."
Giles and Hernandez attended the same firefighting college in Miami in 1997.
The four-month, full-time school teaches recruits the finer points of fire suppression.
There also is a very demanding physical aspect to the training. Only the truly tough survive.
"It was grueling," Giles said of the agility and strength tests needed to make the grade. "You had to work out extensively every day."
Among other things, students laden with 22 pounds of equipment had to carry a 55-pound pack of hose up four flights of stairs.
Then they had to run down a flight of stairs to retrieve a 50-pound roll of hose.
"It's a real test of upper-body strength," Giles said.
The test did not bother Hernandez, a bodybuilder, who worked out regularly, Giles said.
"It is extremely tough in the sense that you have to have a mind-set that you want this more than anything else," Giles said of the physical obstacles she and Hernandez faced. "The women who passed put everything else aside. They really wanted it."
Giles said Hernandez pushed all the women in the class.
"There were times when we wanted to throw in the towel," she said. "But Linda was always there for us. And we became determined that nothing would beat us."
"She was strong as an ox," said Dori Rodrigue, another fire-college student inspired by Hernandez.
"This girl could leg press 290 pounds," Rodrigue recalled.
Rodrigue and Hernandez had worked as correctional officers at the county jail in Miami. Both grew tired of dealing with inmates and plotted an escape to the Fire Department.
They realized the transition from jailer to firefighter would not be easy, but the two remained determined and worked on their upper-body strength during their lunch hours.
"We carried sandbags on our backs up stairs to prepare for the physical agility tests," Rodrigue said.
After Hernandez graduated, she helped other female firefighters learn how to handle the K-12 saw, a tool that required strong arms to control.
Giles said Hernandez showed her how to rev up the hard-starting tool.
"I had a real hard time with it," Giles said, "but Linda showed me how to stand and how to get leverage on it."
Giles then was able to fire up the machine while the male firefighters looked on in disbelief.
Hernandez never had any problems with the circular saw, but her physical power was not enough to defeat the liver disease.
Hundreds of Miami-Dade firefighters attended her funeral and watched her casket placed on a red firetruck for its final ride to the cemetery.
"She loved people," her father, Virgil Seibers, said at the funeral. "She loved life. She was a fighter, and she believed in people."
"There were times when we wanted to throw in the towel. But Linda was always there for us. And we became determined that nothing would beat us..." Mary Giles, friend Linda Hernandez and and fellow Miami-Dade firefighter
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