Ciudad AcuΓ±a, Coahuila — A team of volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel from Ciudad AcuΓ±a, Mexico, who traveled to Kerr County, Texas, to assist with search and rescue operations following severe flooding in early July 2025, have returned home after being informed their help was no longer needed.
More than two dozen rescuers from Ciudad AcuΓ±a’s Civil Protection and Fire Department and the nonprofit FundaciΓ³n 911 responded to a call for help from Texas EquuSearch, a U.S.-based search and rescue organization. Their deployment was not coordinated by the Mexican federal government but was made independently at the local level. The team worked alongside American first responders to search for victims along the flooded Guadalupe River.
Their efforts were widely praised, including by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who publicly recognized their work during a news conference on July 7. However, contrary to some claims, Sheinbaum did not order or coordinate the deployment of the rescue teams. The federal government's involvement was limited to providing consular support for Mexican citizens affected by the flooding.
According to reports from CBS News, Times Union, and Yahoo News, the Mexican teams were told on a Friday, about a week after arriving, that their services were no longer required. They packed up and returned to Mexico the following day.
Despite their departure, five members of a separate Mexican rescue group, Los Topos, stayed behind and were seeking permission to continue recovery efforts in areas that had yet to be searched.
The firefighters' initial departure from Ciudad AcuΓ±a was publicly announced on July 6 via a Facebook post from the local fire department, which stated that the team had responded to a direct request for assistance from Texas EquuSearch.
The situation highlights both the spirit of international cooperation in times of crisis and the complexities surrounding volunteer deployments across borders. While their work in Texas has concluded, the efforts of the Ciudad AcuΓ±a rescuers were an example of swift humanitarian action from a local community in response to disaster.
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Good job. Time is of the essence. They wanted to help. They went to help the local people. The Federal people did not approve. Frankly, my darlings, these guys do not care. They found three people. Two kids and one adult. They found them in the mud, hidden by tons of logs, branches and trees. Los topos will find more, if they let them.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-some-odd years ago when that three-story retail building downtown collapsed, I think it was mid to late afternoon, by midnight there were volunteers from as far away as Monterrey at the site helping to move debris. And, following hurricane Katrina, the Mexican army sent a fully staffed field kitchen which was diverted from New Orleans to San Antonio to help feed evacuees. I don't know if it still happens, but the Brownsville Fire Department used to assist the Matamoros department with bad fires and following the last very bad earthquake in Mexico City U.S. organizations sent rescue teams, including dogs, to search for survivors buried in the ruble. We used to be good neighbors.
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