MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico sent a team of firefighters to California on Saturday to help teams battling the raging wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles.
“The humanitarian aid group is leaving for Los Angeles, California,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X on Saturday morning, posting photos of firefighters holding the flags of Mexico and California and standing on the runway in front of two planes.
“We are a country of generosity and solidarity,” she added.
Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
California Governor Gavin Newsom thanked Mexico in a message on X posted on Friday after the deployment was announced.
“California is deeply grateful for President Sheinbaum’s support as we work to suppress the Los Angeles wildfires,” he wrote.
(Reporting by Raquel Cunha and Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
