Thread: Mexican fire crew joins the fight

Mexican fire crew joins the fight
Bomberos
Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

October 27, 2007
DULZURA, Calif. — They were on their way back to Jamul, weary from dousing a flare-up along winding California 94.

"Stop!" a captain yelled to his fellow firefighters. "I think I see a body."

The engines in the caravan quickly reversed a couple of hundred yards, stopping near the intersection with Barrett Lake Road, said crew member Rodrigo Santana.

Face down, just off the side of the road, was a Latino man wearing a backpack. Obviously a migrant, his body was charred. He was dead, stopped in his tracks by advancing wildfires and thick smoke.

To these crews, the man was more than a casualty. He was a countryman.

Santana and his fellow crew members are bomberos from Tijuana, Mexico, among the first contingent of firefighters to come north to fight a major blaze. The team of about 40 is assigned to the Harris fire, near the border in San Diego County.

Their grim discovery Thursday was an eerie reminder of what others in their country are willing to risk for a new life in the U.S.

"It's the consequences of the United States being a First World country and that Mexico is not," Santana said Friday. "It's sad."

"He's not the first one and he's not going to be the last one that is going to be found," fellow bombero Jose Manuel Villarreal Salgado recalled thinking.

Sure enough, three other bodies, all believed to be those of illegal immigrants, were found by the U.S. Border Patrol farther down the road.

Of course, Salgado and Santana said, they had seen many dead bodies before, but it was strange to find one in the United States.

Both men grimaced slightly as they discussed their discovery. But each expressed different views of who was to blame -- Salgado pointed to the Mexican government, Santana to the U.S.

"It's a Mexican problem because they cannot provide stable jobs and good wages for the workers," Salgado said. "Mexico has the capacity to help and they don't. Government officials just stuff their pockets with our money."

"I'm disappointed in the Mexican government. It's difficult to see a Mexican die, trying to have a better life in another country," Salgado said. "It's sad. It's sad."

Of the migrants, Salgado said, "My opinion is that they have the knowledge of the risks they are taking."

Santana argued that Americans profit on the backs of Latino laborers. But the Mexicans, he said, do not always benefit; they cannot always send enough money back to their families.

Just in the process of getting here, many pay with their lives, often in the heat of the Arizona desert. The blazes are just another cruel way to go, Santana said.

All told in the recent wildfires, seven immigrants have been found dead not far from the border. At the University of San Diego Regional Burn Center, at least 14 are being treated for burns.

Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said it was "inevitable" that more bodies would be found.

On Wednesday, before the bomberos encountered the body, one of the crew from Tijuana discussed his fears for his migrant countrymen.

"We worry about them and it pains us," said Juan Carlos Mendoza, "because they're Mexicans and they're one of us."

Being in the U.S., however, has inspired other, more positive emotions.

Many bomberos said they were proud to offer aid to struggling American firefighters.

At lunch Friday, they shared machaca burritos with scrambled eggs and beef with their California counterparts battling the blaze around Jamul.

"There isn't a difference between the firefighters here or on that side of the border," said 30-year-old bombero Jorge Villegas. "We're all hermanos," brothers.

With Spanish words and small Mexican flags on their fire engines, the crew has attracted the attention and appreciation of U.S. firefighters, despite little time for conversation.

"We don't even know the people, but they're like a brother or sister," said 40-year-old Dan Regis of the Miramar Fire Department. He was in the middle of two 24-hour shifts, trying to stem the fire's northeastern progression. "Worldwide, we're all firefighters no matter what," he said.

Firefighter Mario Alberto Vasquez-Herrera of Tijuana agreed.

"We're very excited that we can be here to help the United States and the firemen here; it's a great experience," Vasquez-Herrera said, minutes before hopping on the back of a fire engine to put out another small blaze.

California fire officials say the bomberos' visit is of both practical and historic value.

"This is the first time in my 32 years [of experience] that they have come across to help, and boy, did we need the help," said San Miguel Fire Chief August F. Ghio. "For me it represents that there are no borders when something like a fire or a catastrophic natural event happens."

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

http://link.toolbot.com/latimes.com/92898

Did the whole crew ever get back to Mexico?. Border patrol should watch out for the next Firetruck that drives across the border to help. they can easily fill it up with hundreds of illegals instead of water.

"It's a Mexican problem because they cannot provide stable jobs and good wages for the workers," Salgado said. "Mexico has the capacity to help and they don't. Government officials just stuff their pockets with our money."

And yet, they protest in the streets of the U.S. They scream for the U.S. to change their laws and policies. If all the groups, agencies, churches, people and millions of illegals all put as much energy in changing Mexico, they would succeed. Where do you see any open protest of the Mexican government???

Why is Canada, in the frozen North, a thriving Nation and in the warm, tropical South rolling in natural wealth, is a corrupt cesspool??? It's not very hard to decipher. A Nation is simply a mirror of it's people, which tells you that all the "migrants" are not hard working, churchgoing, family people!

"We're very excited that we can be here to help the United States and the firemen here; it's a great experience," Vasquez-Herrera said, minutes before hopping on the back of a fire engine to put out another small blaze.

California fire officials say the bomberos' visit is of both practical and historic value.

"This is the first time in my 32 years [of experience] that they have come across to help, and boy, did we need the help," said San Miguel Fire Chief August F. Ghio. "For me it represents that there are no borders when something like a fire or a catastrophic natural event happens."

Delusional much senor? Oh boy this amigo is really going overboard, "No borders" uh . . . .hello there are still borders and I hope your Raza realize this when they are done "helping". In light of the fact that illegals are suspected of starting some of those fires, and stealing supplies for resale, it's not like they're doing us any great favors.

I'm sure we the taxpayers have paid handsomely for that help.

OK folks lets get real here!
San Diego needed their help in a time of disaster and they came and helped risking their lives to help others!
The city of San Diego has gone into Tijuana and helped them when they have had major fires before.
I used to work with fire and EMS services along the border and we used to invite the firefighters from Tecate over to train with us and I have been on several ambulance call meeting their medics at the border.
These are good folks doing what they can to help save others.
These guys are not illegals in our country, they are emergency personnel doing what they are trained to do! And I will not tolerate and deflamitory remarks about them.
I am still friends with a man in Tecate who helped found and build their fire dept. so I know what I am talking about here.
Please show a little respect.

Please show a little respect.

If we could have a more balanced relationship with Mexico the way we have with Canada it would be nice. Maybe someday we will. (Stretching the imagination as far as it will go).

When countries have emergencies, we should help each other, it only makes sense.

After our last hurricane in Florida and on our eighth day without electricity, it was a Canadian crew from a Canadian power company, with a Canadian truck that finally arrived on our street and restored power to us.

Thanks, Canada!!