Due to the wildfires that broke out in Los Angeles, California, and elsewhere on the West Coast of the United States, the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs requested support from the Secretariat of National Defense (DEFENSA) to establish a humanitarian aid delegation named “Cehui” (meaning to extinguish in Nahuatl, a language indigenous to Mexico) to put out the fires.
For this reason, two Mexican Air Force heavy transport aircraft — a C-130 Hercules and a C-27J Spartan — left Mexico on January 11, 2025, carrying 36 military personnel from DEFENSA and 38 civilians, including two from the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, 29 from the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) and seven from National Civil Protection Coordination. As the Cehui delegation prepared to depart Military Air Base No. 1 in Santa Lucía, state of Mexico, Secretary of National Defense Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo encouraged them to successfully execute their mission.
When they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, the contingent was greeted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Mexican consuls of Los Angeles and Sacramento. Once at base camp, the Mexican delegation trained with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and coordinated activities from January 14-24 at sites across the state. The team:
- Inspected 451 collapsed structures.
- Located nine biological clues about possible fire victims and one deceased person.
- Built 150 meters of firebreak and widened another 1,400 meters.
- Searched 19 fire hot spots over more than 24 kilometers.
- Extinguished 19 fires.
The Mexican delegation was organized into two teams. MEX-1 (CONAFOR) extinguished fires by building and widening firebreaks and managing fuels with chain saws. MEX-2 (DEFENSA) carried out search and rescue activities in the southern area, including inspecting structures, locating bodies and biological evidence, recovering valuables, and building firebreaks, ditches and barricades.
The Cehui delegation returned home on January 25 and was received with a ceremony at which Mexican Secretary of National Defense Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo recognized their effort, experience, capacity and skills with the following message: “Humanitarian aid is an activity that has demonstrated solidarity, work carried out by exalting the humanism that characterizes the people of Mexico.”
The DEFENSA personnel demonstrated their capabilities and support in emergency situations, regardless of nationality or location. These actions strengthen the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the U.S.