A contingent of 72 Mexican firefighters received a briefing from U.S. officials on Monday along with their American counterparts before heading out to help fight the wildfires raging in Southern California.
The group is made up of military experts, including doctors, engineers and search and rescue teams, as well as a group of firefighters from the Mexican equivalent of the US Forest Service.
The massive wildfires that have been ravaging the Los Angeles area since Tuesday have killed at least two dozen people and burned an area the size of Washington, DC. More than 90,000 residents were forced to abandon their homes and entire neighborhoods were incinerated.
The Mexican team will join firefighters from seven states and Canada to try to control the fire.
“They are now assigned to the fire, where they will be involved on the fire line, basically working as a support team,” said Edwin Zuniga, public information officer for Cal Fire. “So building a containment line, reinforcing containment line, directly engaging the fire if necessary.”
The duration of the mobilization of Mexican firefighters is uncertain, according to Zuniga. It could be one or three weeks.
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“We have a special team, so we are here to help, to bring help to people, to give them the best we can,” said firefighter Ivan Lorenzo Garcia, from the Mexican Army Emergency Response Battalion.
Laura Velazquez Alzua, National Civil Protection Coordinator of Mexico, spoke about the importance of international cooperation.
“We are instructed by the President of Mexico, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, to come help and contribute the experience and knowledge of 72 firefighting experts,” she said.
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Velazquez Alzua called the current moment “very important” for firefighters.
“We are sure that Mexico is a people of solidarity, a people that reinforces its brotherhood with the people of the United States,” she said.
