Mexico sent 101 firefighters to the United States to help fight wildfires in California, the Mexican government reported Wednesday
Staff
The Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources announced that five teams of 20 trained, equipped firefighters from the National Forest Commission will work with the United States Forest Service.
The agency said Mexico can spare these fire crews because there are currently no active wildfires in 31 of the 32 states of the country. Summer and early Fall are rainy seasons in most of Mexico.
They arrived in San Bernardino
On board an Airbus 320 from Guadalajara, more than 100 Mexican firefighters arrived at the San Bernardino International Airport to help fight the wildfires in California.
Following a welcome ceremony, Mexican firefighters will receive an orientation session and over the course of the following days, they will participate in the deployment of a fire shelter and other set-up trainings, according to the US Forest Service.
Firefighters will first be sent to work in California’s Sequoia National Park, which is threatened by a series of fires ignited by lightning within the national park. The Sequoia Complex is composed of the Castle and Shotgun fires.
The SQF Complex Fires have already torched more than 144,708 acres and destroyed nearly 200 structures, forcing many residents to evacuate. They are only 33% contained.
The crews made up of firefighters from various states of Mexico will join the containment groups that work in various parts of the golden state. The group is one of the 31,000 firefighters who fight fires across the country.
“Wildfires do not have borders; they don´t have different languages or cultures. In the end, in fighting wildfires we all speak the same language,” said the Fire Management Manager of CONAFOR (National Forest Commission of Mexico), Eduardo Cruz.
Cruz added; “I am excited for this unique opportunity to visit a station where I worked and trained when I was young. The training I received helped me advance my career and now I feel able to help USFS and Sequoia, bringing firefighters from Mexico with me, to provide support in the California firefighting effort.”
According to Ramón Silva Flores, from CONAFOR, Mexico, “One hundred combatants may be a small number, however, the colleagues have been rigorously selected, they have sufficient experience, the abilities precisely to help attend in an orderly and with all the necessary logistics.”
Julissa González of the US Forest Service said, “It is extremely important in these times. We have 23 fires throughout California. These fires have been destructive, and it has been historic but not in a good way.”
Since 1962, USFS has had a long history of cooperation with Mexico in forest and fire management, according to USFS, which has been providing training and supporting Mexico in strengthening its firefighting capabilities since 1983.
