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Kern Valley Hotshot Crew superintendent Kyle Clendenen gives an operational briefing to his crew of hotshots, plus two very special guests. Felipe Ramirez Torres and Homero Sosa Serrate, both from Mexico, work with the Incendios Foestales Mexico, which roughly translates to Forest Fires Mexico, the equivalent to our wildfire incident management teams. The Kern Valley Hotshots, and their guests, are involved in a special international program to exchange wildland firefighting knowledge and skills across borders.

“The goal of the program is to teach international firefighters other tactics about firefighting. We teach about fire behavior, leadership, everything that we do here in the U.S. We talk about the ICS system and just get them more experience so they can take that back to Mexico. They can teach their students the same and teach them different ways to fight fires with hand tools, chainsaws and using fire to fight fire.” Said Clendenen.

Torres and Serrate will experience everything there is to experience during their time with the Kern Valley Hotshots. From living weeks to what must feel like months in a crew buggy, with all 18 of your coworkers, to the day-to-day grueling work it takes to fight a wildfire.

They have become an integral part of the crew. At the end of the season, they will return home and take what they have learned here and help train other firefighters. And of course, put their newly acquired skills and abilities to use helping to fight wildfires in their home units and provide support for their communities.