Latest news with #IsmaelAldaba
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
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. Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
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.
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Texas flooding: firefighters from Mexico arrive to aid in search and rescue efforts
A contingent of firefighters and first responders from Mexico arrived in Texas over the weekend to aid in search and rescue efforts following the devastating flooding of the Guadalupe River in a show of solidarity with their northern neighbors. 'When it comes to firefighters, there's no borders,' Ismael Aldaba, founder of Fundación 911, in Acuña, Mexico, told CNN on Tuesday. 'There's there's nothing that'll avoid us from helping another firefighter, another family. It doesn't matter where we're at in the world. That's the whole point of our discipline and what we do.' They represent one of a handful of volunteer groups, including highly skilled search and rescue teams from California, that have traveled to Texas after the flooding which is being described as one of the US's deadliest floods in decades. Dozens of people are still missing. Under the command of Mountain Home fire department and Texas state police, Fundación 911 is assisting along the Guadalupe River and coordinating to bring in reinforcements equipped with search and rescue canines from the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The team of 13 hails from just across the US-Mexico border from the Texas counties most severely impacted by the flooding, and has practice responding to crises in flood zones along the Rio Grande River. The arrival of the international team comes amid tensions along the US-Mexico border over the Trump administration's sweeping crackdown on immigration. But the message expressed by the firefighters this week has been one of unity. One of the volunteers, José Omar Llanas Hernández, told CBS News he feels immense pride in being able to serve communities and aid in rescues in any country. His colleague, Jesús Gomez, who is a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, told the outlet: 'There's a bunch of firefighters that have visas and we were like: 'Let's just go and help.'' 'Sometimes people from the other side cross and help us,' he added. 'It's time to give a little bit.' Aldaba said that locals in Texas had been 'welcoming to our team from Mexico'. In a social media post on Monday, the US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, thanked the Mexican teams for their efforts. 'The United States and Mexico are united, not only as neighbors but as family, especially in times of need,' he said. In January, firefighters from Mexico traveled to California to help battle the Los Angeles area wildfires. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Also on Monday, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum applauded the work of two Mexicans who survived the flooding in Texas, and saved at least 20 girls. Silvana Garza Valdez y María Paula Zárate were working as camp counsellors at Camp Mystic, the Christian all-girls summer camp where at least 27 campers were killed in the floodwaters, when the Guadalupe River began to flood. 'We started writing their names, we put their badges on them, we told them to pack a bag with their things, with what they needed most, and if they had their favorite animal, to bring it,' Zárate told the Mexican news outlet N Mas in a Spanish-language interview. Aldaba, the leader of the team of Mexican firefighters, says the first responders have 'received a lot of love' from their US colleagues. 'We appreciate all the other guys that are here from different fire departments in Texas,' she told CNN. 'Our team has been prepared in disasters. They've been to different disasters around the world. We decided to come and help our friends and try to make this a little easier for them. What we found here has been incredible.'
