DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. – When wildfires struck the western U.S. late this summer, more than 500 Canadians heeded the call to help their southern neighbor under mutual assistance agreements. About half served on the Labor Day wildfires in Oregon, joining American fire personnel who came from 39 states. One of the wildfires that Canadians were assigned to was the Archie Creek Fire in Douglas County. The international nature of that firefighting effort was underscored by the presence of Canadians of Mexican origin working alongside U.S. firefighters.
Firefighter Jorge Camacho-Tornero from Alberta, Canada took the photo of firefighters from three nations at Archie Creek. He said the multi-national firefighters overcame “language barriers and differences in fire fighting strategies and tactics. Proof of this is the cohesion demonstrated by the fire crews.” Camacho-Tornero served as a paramedic and fire chief in Jalisco, Mexico. He went to Canada in 2008 as part of a wildland firefighter exchange program between Alberta and Jalisco and has since made Canada his home.
The photo he took Sept. 24 at the end of a shift shows 21 members of the Umpqua Type 2 initial attack crew that has been active in this region since the early 1970s and provided local knowledge to those new to the area. We also see Canadian firefighters and 40 members of the two Type 2 contracted American crews. According to their members, the largely Latinx crew members have been helping protect American forests since 1986 when the first crew of “lumbreros” (fire workers) was formed. They say they are proud to represent their original Mexican homeland and the Latinx community in their adopted country, the U.S.A.
The Archie Creek Fire was almost three-quarters contained as of Sept. 29. It is one of five “megafires” that exploded in the Labor Day wind event in Oregon, each burning over 100,000 acres.