The major
wildfires that have been raging in the Los Angeles area since Tuesday have claimed the lives of at least two dozen people and burned an area the size of Washington, D.C. More than 90,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes and entire neighborhoods have been incinerated.
The Mexican team will join firefighters from seven states and Canada to try to bring the inferno under control.
“They are now assigned to the fire where they’re going to be engaging on the fire line, basically working as a hand crew,” said Edwin Zuniga, public information officer for Cal Fire. “So building a containment line, reinforcement containment line, engaging on the fire directly if need so.”
The Mexican firefighters’ deployment duration is uncertain, according to Zuniga. It could be a week or three weeks.
“We have a special team so we are here to help, to bring people help, to give the best for them we can,” said firefighter Ivan Lorenzo Garcia of the Mexican Army’s Emergency Response Battalion.
Laura Velazquez Alzua, the National Coordinator of Civil Protection for Mexico, spoke about the importance of the international cooperation.
“We have the instruction of the President of Mexico, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, to come and help and contribute with the experience and knowledge of 72 specialists in firefighting,” she said.
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