As Southern California continues to recover from the devastating wildfires that have displaced nearly 180,000 people, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced during her Jan. 10 press conference that Mexico will be sending a special team to the United States to help combat the natural disaster.
During the announcement, Sheinbaum said that Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico's foreign minister, chatted with President Joe Biden as well as California Gov. Gavin Newsom to offer support to the thousands of hectares that were consumed by the fires.
"We are going to send a support team to Los Angeles," Sheinbaum said. "It will be assembled by members of Mexico's National Forestry Commission and by units of the Secretariat of National Defense," she added.
Sheinbaum highlighted that the team has not been deployed yet, as both countries are working on immigration procedures to allow their arrival on U.S. soil. She added that Mexico is not only helping because of generosity, but added that many Mexicans were also impacted by the devastation.
Ever since the wildfires began on Jan. 7, Sheinbaum has showed her solidarity towards the thousands of people displaced as well as the victims of the disaster. On Tuesday she said that de la Fuente was working with Mexican consulates in Southern California to assist any Mexican nationals that had suffered losses due to the fires and highlighted that the country was ready to offer any help to state officials in California.
As of Jan. 10, more than 35,000 acres of land have been decimated due to the five fires that started on Jan. 7. At least 10 people have died, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office, with the death toll expected to continue rising. The Palisades fire, the largest of the five fires, is yet to be fully extinguished and currently stands at 8% contained according to NPR.
Apart from Mexico's imminent support, about 8,000 personnel are responding to the fires including from local, state, out-of-state and federal agencies, Gov. Newsom said.
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