I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands.
Contained large fires, 18th.
Everything else, wrapping up.
A hotshot crew is an elite group of firefighters
that's available to go anywhere
in the country to fight fires.
The exchange program we have
with the Mexican Forest Service
and the US Forest Service
is to bring technicians identified
by the Mexican Government,
and embed them in our crews.
Fernando is embedded here,
being exposed to hotshot operations,
so he can take that knowledge back
to his country.
By bringing firefighters from Mexico
to the US to fight fires helps them
obviously get a better idea
of how we fight fires
to help them back home.
Also, it might help us in the long run
when they do have fires,
especially in that border area
to eliminate some of the impact on the US.
The United States said late today
that it's going to send assistance to Mexico
to help fight forest fires
that have now meant smoke
more than half the length of North America.
Smoke and haze from those fires
still burning in Mexico are now fouling
the air in Denver all the way to Miami.
Mexico's fires, everybody's problems.
The collaboration between
the US Forest Service and Mexico
has been ongoing for the last 25 years.
They're more organized
and more efficient
in their response to wildfires.
Probably 90% of the time the way
we fight fires is
with chainsaws and hand tools.
Some of the activities we've been working on
with Fernando is pretty much starting him
from the firefighter level
and working up the chain of command.
Part of what Fernando's learning
here is the ICS system.
The US Forest Service
has been working actively
with Mexico to implement ICS
on procedures and planning processes.
The firefighters that are participating
in these exchanges not only take back
knowledge back to their country,
but they establish a long-lasting relationship
with our firefighters in our country.
They maintain communications
on new ideas and techniques
across the border.