Friday, October 10, 2025

Mexican firefighters head to Los Angeles to assist as devastating wildfires threaten the city

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico was sending a team of firefighters and military personnel to Los Angeles to support the fight against the devastating fires.

“We’re going to send a support team to Los Angeles,” she told reporters at her morning press conference.

She said the team is made up of National Forestry Commission firefighters and Ministry of Defense disaster relief workers.

Sheinbaum said that the decision to send the team to Los Angeles came after Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente spoke with U.S. and California government officials.

She said that the members of the team are completing the relevant immigration paperwork in order to enter the United States.

“We’re going to help, not just because the people and government of Mexico have always been generous, but also because there are a lot of Mexicans in this part of the United States,” Sheinbaum said.

A firefighter sprays a mostly extinguished building with water in the Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
The encroachment of wildfires from multiple directions around Los Angeles has left the city direly short on firefighting resources. Now, a team of Mexican firefighters is on its way to render assistance. (Cal FIRE_Official/Flickr)

“So we’re going to send a team, [the U.S. authorities] were very grateful and we’re doing the migratory paperwork that has to be done so they can arrive,” she said.

Fires across Los Angeles County had damaged or destroyed thousands of structures and claimed at least 10 lives as of Friday morning, according to officials in the U.S.

Firefighters have made some progress in containing the blazes, but “much of Los Angeles County remains under a red flag warning through Friday night,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

There have been no reports of any Mexicans having lost their lives due to the wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres in different areas of Los Angeles.

Mexico’s Consul General in Los Angeles advised any Mexicans who have been affected by the fires and require assistance to contact the Mexican Consulate.

“In case of requiring support or official information contact us on telephone 213-219-0175,” Carlos González Gutiérrez said in a video message on Thursday night.

He also advised Mexicans to obtain information about the fires only from “official sources” and to prepare an evacuation plan and a “kit” containing their essential documents such as passports.

With reports from La Jornada and El Universal

47 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
sargassum

Mexico’s Caribbean coast welcomes early end to sargassum season

2
Sargassum on Quintana Roo's beaches caused a lot of problems throughout the season, but in reality, the quantities seen were lower than experts had predicted earlier in the year.

Migrant apprehensions at Mexico border hit 55-year low, US reports

4
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 237,565 apprehensions at the Mexico-U.S. border in Fiscal Year 2025, the lowest total since Fiscal Year 1970.
Mammoth discovery made in Mexico City

How Mexican scientists uncovered the story of the first mammoths in the Americas

1
The important new discoveries were made after an airport construction project uncovered ancient Ice Age mammoth fossils.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity