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Firehose Straddles the Border Barrier Late Thursday Night, July 14

CALEXICO — A structure fire near the international border in Mexicali’s central district was extinguished by Mexicali firefighters with water that was provided by their counterparts in Calexico on Thursday night, July 14.

Mexicali firefighters had initially reached out to the Calexico Fire Department around 9 p.m. to advise Calexico officials of the fire and that some of the fire hydrants nearest the blaze on Avenida Madero either did not work properly or did not have any water available, said Calexico fire Capt. Juan Contreras.

To assist their Mexicali counterparts, Calexico firefighters staged a fire engine by a fire hydrant near First Street and Heber Avenue and relayed the fire engine’s firehose over the border barrier to a Mexicali fire engine on the other side, Contreras said the morning of Friday, July 15.

In turn, the Mexicali fire engine receiving the firehose from Calexico then connected its engine’s firehose to another Mexicali fire engine whose firehose was also connected to a third fire engine nearest the blaze, Contreras said.

Although the Calexico Fire Department has provided water to extinguish fires in Mexicali in the past, it usually will do so by linking its firehose through a gap at the bottom of the border barrier.

Mexicali officials requested to have the Calexico engine’s firehose relayed over the border barrier so that it would not impede motorists’ northbound international travel, Contreras said.

“We pretty much made a bridge with the firehose going over to their engines so the line (of northbound motorists) did not get shut down,” Contreras said.

Calexico firefighters provided assistance relaying water from about 10:30 p.m. Thursday to 1 a.m. Friday, he said.

Calexico firefighters had also responded to a fire at a vacant structure in the 200 block of Third Street at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

The fire appears to have been intentionally set, since the structure did not have any electricity or gas, said Calexico fire Capt. Shannon Mohamed.

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The structure consisted of two separate business offices. The building itself stood apart from any neighboring structures, and thereby did not pose any substantial risk of exposure, Mohamed said.

The building had been the site of previous fires and was regularly occupied by transients, who would often regain access after the property owners would secure the location following a fire, Mohamed said.

Once the latest fire was extinguished, Public Works Department personnel brought heavy equipment to demolish the fire-damaged stricture, to prevent it from being further occupied. The city’s Public Works Department has assisted in mitigating other additional locations that have been the sites of fires in the past, as well.

“They have been a great help to us this year,” Mohamed said.