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Firefighter volunteers from Mexico crossed border to help Texas flood victims: ‘This was a mission to come and help our brothers'

Firefighter volunteers from Mexico crossed border to help Texas flood victims: ‘This was a mission to come and help our brothers'

A group of volunteer firefighters from Mexico were among the people helping with the search-and-rescue mission in the aftermath of the floods that submerged Kerr County in central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend.
Fundación 911, a nonprofit that provides equipment and training to fire departments across Mexico, sent a crew of 40 members to support local first responders. The group, based out of the border city of Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, was established in 2023.
In the morning of July 4, heavy rain caused the waters of the Guadalupe River to rapidly rise, leading to deadly flash floods that have killed at least 132 people, with an additional 160 people still missing.
Ismael Aldaba, president and founder of Fundación 911, told The Times that his organization immediately mobilized volunteers from the Mexican states of Coahuila and Nuevo León upon learning of the devastation. Within 12 hours, a group of 13 firefighters arrived in central Texas, with others joining them throughout their time in the state.
'Once we learned [Kerr County was] affected, we knew we had to come down here. We knew this was a mission to come and help our brothers,' Aldaba said.
The volunteers dispatched by Fundación 911 specialize in rescuing people from fast-moving water and are among the few fire crews in Mexico with international certification in swift water rescue. The group also brought cadaver-detecting K9s to help with the field search.
'We just [wanted] to make sure that we can work as fast as we can and try to make some headway with all the things we [had] to do,' Aldaba added.
Fundación 911 worked alongside 400 first responders and volunteers from various agencies and organizations.
'When you are doing search and rescue, the more people you have on the ground, the better,' Brien Alexander, chief of the Mountain Home Fire Department told The Times.
Aldaba said that his group felt the appreciation from Texas Hill Country residents during their weeklong stay in Kerr County, adding that the Mountain Home Fire Department opened its doors to their fire house and let them stay with them. Anywhere they went, from stores to restaurants, community members would not let the volunteers from Mexico pay for anything.
'There was an outpour of kindness from this area,' Aldaba said. 'It's something we are not used to.'
During her daily news conference on July 8, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum recognized Fundación 911's work by thanking each member of the team by name.
'That is our culture. We Mexicans are always supportive and brotherly. What is reflected in firefighters who go and risk their lives is the essence of the Mexican people. It is humanism,' she said in Spanish.
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When they started to understand the level of devastation, one of Fundación 911's leaders called the Texas fire department asking if they needed help. The next morning, the Mexican fire department began gathering equipment, vehicles and supplies, Fuentes said. The Acuña firefighters were able to enter the country lawfully, with three requiring a provisional permit to work as humanitarian aid workers, Herrera said. Less than two days after the Guadalupe River surged, these Mexican firefighters arrived in Texas to aid in rescue and recovery. They were comprised of two groups: Fundación 911 and firefighters working with the Ciudad of Acuña's fire department. Fundación 911 is a nonprofit group of firefighters united to gather donations of materials and equipment from fire stations and other emergency response stations to give to different corps in Mexico that don't have the money to acquire them. Many members of the group had family in the region, which helped them understand the level and scale of the flooding, Herrera said. At least 136 people were killed in central Texas during the historic July Fourth flooding, among those dead were girls from Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River. More than a summer's worth of rain fell into the area that night, catapulting the surrounding area into chaos. Wading through the raging waters of the Guadalupe River after the flooding presented a new challenge for the group of firefighters from Mexico. The Fundación 911 firefighters worked in collaboration with the Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department across Kerr County, hunting up and down the Guadalupe River for signs of life. 'When we saw the situation there in Kerr County, it was totally different. It's a natural disaster, an emergency,' Herrera said. 'It was completely different than a Rio Bravo rescue,' referring to the river's name in Mexico. 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As they looked for bodies, the group of firefighters began using a technique they use along the Rio Grande where they stick a PVC pipe through debris to see if they can smell a decomposing body, Fuentes said. The decision to help in the Texas flooding was personal for Fuentes, who put himself in the shoes of parents worrying about the whereabouts and safety of their children lost in the floods. As a father of two, Fuentes stressed he would have wanted all of the help he could have in the search and rescue missions. When Ismael Aldaba, the president of Fundación 911, called, 'It was a no brainer for me,' Fuentes said. 'I immediately decided to go over and help.' The devastation and the reminders of all that was lost stood out to Aldaba. 'A lot of the challenges that we've seen here we've never seen in any of the emergencies we've had before, not to this magnitude,' Aldaba told CNN. 'It's amazing to see personal items, clothing, 20 to 25 feet stuck on the trees.' One of the main motivations for the group of firefighters during their recovery missions was to locate the missing Camp Mystic girls during their six days along the Guadalupe, Herrera said. 'If it had been my daughter, I would be here day, afternoon and night until I found her,' Herrera said. Helping out in Texas with these search and rescue efforts was an unforgettable experience, especially because of the warmth from locals, Herrera said. The Latino community in Kerr County welcomed the Mexican crews with open arms, offering them houses, places to sleep and bathe, Herrera said. Each day, locals gave them food, fresh water and desserts. 'They took us to a person who did our hair for free, took us to nurses who put us on IVs and other things. We had a person who gave us a massage to relax us because of the high stress we had in the flood situation,' he said. 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When they started to understand the level of devastation, one of Fundación 911's leaders called the Texas fire department asking if they needed help. The next morning, the Mexican fire department began gathering equipment, vehicles and supplies, Fuentes said. The Acuña firefighters were able to enter the country lawfully, with three requiring a provisional permit to work as humanitarian aid workers, Herrera said. Less than two days after the Guadalupe River surged, these Mexican firefighters arrived in Texas to aid in rescue and recovery. They were comprised of two groups: Fundación 911 and firefighters working with the Ciudad of Acuña's fire department. Fundación 911 is a nonprofit group of firefighters united to gather donations of materials and equipment from fire stations and other emergency response stations to give to different corps in Mexico that don't have the money to acquire them. Many members of the group had family in the region, which helped them understand the level and scale of the flooding, Herrera said. At least 136 people were killed in central Texas during the historic July Fourth flooding, among those dead were girls from Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River. More than a summer's worth of rain fell into the area that night, catapulting the surrounding area into chaos. Wading through the raging waters of the Guadalupe River after the flooding presented a new challenge for the group of firefighters from Mexico. The Fundación 911 firefighters worked in collaboration with the Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department across Kerr County, hunting up and down the Guadalupe River for signs of life. 'When we saw the situation there in Kerr County, it was totally different. It's a natural disaster, an emergency,' Herrera said. 'It was completely different than a Rio Bravo rescue,' referring to the river's name in Mexico. 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