The 300 members of the brigade who helped fight the wildfires in Chile have arrived in Mexico

After almost a month of intense work, the brigade teams who traveled overseas to help fight forest fires in Chile they returned to Mexican territory. Their arrival was registered on Saturday, March 4, at the Santa Lucía Military Air Base No. 1, in the State of Mexico, where they were received by the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), Luis Cresencio Sandoval.

There were 300 elements in total that arrived in the country: 120 from the Mexican Army and 180 from the National Forestry Commission (Conafor), who were received in a ceremony chaired by the head of Sedena, with the aim of recognizing the international aid that Mexico has provided to Chile since the beginning of February, noting that the Mexican delegation has the largest international contingent and had great organizational skills.

“Every member of this team has put their maximum capacity, professionalism, experience, dedication and esprit de corps helping the Chilean people to prevent large forest areas and the population from being affected,” commented the commander of the Mexican delegation, General Juan Bravo Velázuez.

In this sense, they highlighted the skills of the members of the Mexican brigade who, in coordination with the Chilean authorities, managed to to put out the fire who consumed more than thousand 567 hectares of forest areas located in the central-southern zone of the country. With the above, the lives of about 272 people were saved and about 266 medical consultations were carried out.

In addition to direct fire actions, the 300 elements of Sedena and Conafor carried out preventive work to prevent its spread through insulation of two thousand 415 dwellingss and the creation of 484 linear kilometers of guardarraya, a term that refers to strips devoid of vegetation with which the spread of fire is interrupted.

These tasks were carried out over four weeks, from From February 5 to March 1. Thus, after a month of hard work, the members of the Mexican Brigade returned to their country of origin aboard two Mexican Air Force planes, which at the time were carrying the personnel of the Delegation of humanitarian aid that participated in the smothering of forest fires.

The National Civil Protection Coordinator, Laura Velázquez Alzúa, the Director General of Conafor, Luis Meneses Trujillo, the Ambassador of the Republic of Chile to Mexico, Beatriz Sánchez Muñoz, as well as the executive director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, Laura Elena Carrillo Cubillas.

The dispatch of Mexican teams to the South American country was confirmed after the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Caroline Toha, will petition the international community to help in the fight against the forest fires. In view of this, the Secretary for External Relations (SRE), Marcelo Ebrard, announced the participation of 180 members of the specialized brigade initially.

“A request for international support has been made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was taken contact with various governments to strengthen efforts it used to be done with the companies that provide the services. These requests include searches for ships to reinforce the fleet and brigades that can reform the work on the ground,” he told the media.

Until February 21, Carolina Tohá had indicated that they continued 266 active lights, of which 164 were controlled and 73 were in combat in the regions of Maule, Ñuble, Biobío and La Araucanía. Estimates put the cumulative damage at 1,985 homes destroyed and nearly 7,017 homeless.

Like Mexico, Brazil, Portugal and France They also sent their respective brigade members to Chile to help fight the fires.