ONLY ON KOLD: No politics in cross border fire rescue

NOGALES, AZ (Tucson News Now) - A 20-foot high fence with mesh and razor wire divides sister cites Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and Nogales, AZ. It’s a border, but it doesn’t stop the relationship between both fire departments along the border. A relationship that came in handy during a fire this past weekend.

On Friday, Dec. 14 firefighters in Nogales, Arizona saw smoke. They called it in, thinking the fire was on the American side. Crews arrived and discovered the fire was actually on the Mexican side of the border. There was an issue though for the firefighters in Mexico, they didn’t have water flowing to the hydrants.

The firefighters from Arizona acted fast and helped out their counterparts across the border. They hooked up a hose to a hydrant. Ran the hose to the fence, and there crews ran into another issue. The mesh fence that is about 7-feet high with sharp edges. The edges could cut the hose.

One of the captains decided to lay a ladder on the mesh fence. So the hose would not get damaged and it worked. They tossed the hose to the firefighters in Mexico and they were able to put water on the fire.

It took the firefighters several hours to put the fire out, but out of the three homes that were burned, only one was destroyed.

Tucson News Now spoke with the fire Chief of the Mexican fire department about the two departments working together. He says, the two have been helping out each other for years. He also tells us, if it weren’t for the help of the firefighters in Nogales, the fire could of destroyed a whole block.

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