- On this episode of Crossing South, we visit Rosarito and get to do some drills with the firefighters of that beach town.

And it's coming to you right now.

(upbeat music) You know, around the world, first responders are our modern day heroes.

Superheroes do not exist, at least as the comics portray them.

But the ones that come to save your life are not wearing capes, they're actually riding cars like this.

And we are in Rosarito, one of the now best-trained fire departments in Baja, maybe Mexico.

And someone that's helping accomplish that, is standing right next to me right now.

What's your name?

- Katherine.

- Katherine, you are part of a US organization- - Correct.

- That is helping fire departments in Mexico.

- That is correct.

We're with Baja Bridges.

- Why, why?

- It's the right thing to do.

We're down here, we come down as tourists, we live here, we have family here.

And we realized that if our fire departments have the same training, the same equipment and the same opportunities that our firefighters have in the United States, then it's a good thing for everybody.

- What is your background in fire-fighting?

- Zero.

(laughter) - The only thing I have interest in firefighters is they look good on calendars, but the reality is, my family brought a firetruck down in Mulegé a few years ago, and my father was a dental person there, and he said the community needed a firetruck.

- [Interviewer] Wow.

- And I was Rotarian up north, and so we got some Rotarians together.

We brought a fire engine down, and we were doing that literally when COVID started.

- [Interviewer] That was your first?

- That was our first engine down, was right when COVID hit, - How did it snowball into what you're doing right now?

- Well, what happened is, we realized all the American groups pulled out because of COVID and Rotarians all had homes, we had Americans that were still down here, and they looked at us and they said that was a perfect time to go home and get support, we needed PPE, we needed EMT equipment, we needed ambulances.

And so we went to all the rotary clubs and we said, "Hey, let's not leave these people without us."

So Baja Bridges was started by Rotarians and firefighters.

- So that's the organization that's doing all this.

- Yeah, Baja Bridges, correct.

- And you're part of that?

- I am.

- You're part of Rotary Club in States?

- I'm a Rotary Club in the States, Clarksburg, and in Sonata down here.

- And that was the link.

- That was the link, yeah.

Rotary and the firefighters.

- [Interviewer] I mean, you seem to be doing a lot more now, you seem to be bringing not just a fire engine.

- [Katherine] Correct.

- [Interviewer] You seem to be fully supplying, you know, fire stations with full gear and the training that goes with it.

- Right.

- How are you accomplishing that?

How did you coordinate that?

- Well, what we learned is that there were a lot of Americans down here that already had programs.

- Oh, really?

- There was Flying Samaritans, Flying Docks, there was Hands to Hearts.

- Okay.

- Lot of different groups of people that had worked in different little parts of Mexico.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Katherine] But they didn't have the support of either the transportation or getting the supplies.

So we realized we needed a networking group.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- We needed to put together a group that could go back into the States, all over the country and say, "Hey, maybe down in Mulegé they got a dental clinic, So we need dentist.

Or we've got a spay neuter clinic down in La Paz."

So we quickly realized that with Rotary, we had access to all of that.

I mean, we could put the word out to any part of the US saying, "I need some equipment for this," and the Rotarian's like, "Oh yeah, we got that."

- [Interviewer] Whatever the need is.

- [Katherine] We do fire, we do EMT, we have the whole program for the schools.

So Hewlett Packard's partnered with us and we bring computers for kids.

- Okay.

- So we have that program.

We have the dental program that sets up dental clinics.

We have Paws now, which is spay neuter.

And then we have orphanages.

- Oh wow.

- We support 14 orphanages just in the Tijuana, in Sonata region.

- You're just a giver, aren't you?

(interviewer laughs) - Pretty happy girl, yeah, pretty happy girl.

- There's a lot of satisfaction in giving.

So, tell me what you've done for the Rosarito fire department.

- [Katherine] Rosarito fire department, Walton, I would say is more that they've done for me.

They're helping us to get all the equipment over the border.

We bring engines in.

So.

- [Interviewer] You got the donations.

- [Katherine] We get the donations, and they sit and handle the paperwork, they handle driving, - [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Katherine] On the border, they handle driving the engines to different parts of Baja.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- On the transportation.

And they're helping with the training.

The Rosarito firefighters work with Bomberos Nuestre.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Katherine] The organization that does the training and then they send their trainers to other parts of the country.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Katherine] And so really, they're working together.

- [Interviewer] What happens when the fire department maybe gets gear from the States that they don't know how to use, who trains them in that?

- [Katherine] Well, that's what Bomberos Nuestre does.

The first step is that we have training.

So Bomberos Nuestre comes into a community, identifies the needs, whether they're doing mostly structure fire, are they doing rope-rescue off cliffs or are they doing automobiles?

So they come in, they identify the needs of that community.

They provide the training and then we go out and get the equipment afterwards that meets the requirements for the training they had.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Katherine] And then, that's the tough part, because generally when you're on vacation, you may come down with a suitcase with two or three things, but it may not match.

So today, as we take you through the exercises, you're gonna see how more important it is to say, if you have an oxygen tank on your back, the mask has to match the backpack, that matches the alarm, that matches the lights, the system.

- They need training for that.

- They need training for it, and then they need the equipment for it.

- Correct?

Yeah.

- So we're gonna make you a firefighter.

- Wait, what?

Yeah, okay, this should be good.

(upbeat music) - Get it!

- (indistinct) Let's do it, it's game time.

It's time to put the flaps down.

You guys saw Backdraft?

Okay, it's got nothing on this.

Nah, I'm just kidding.

I'm scared.

(interviewer laughs) I don't know what's gonna happen.

If this is the end of the line, just know it was great being your friendly neighborhood travel-host show.

Travel-host show?

You see I'm delirious now.

Travel-show host.

(speaking in foreign language) - [Announcer 1] The call goes out, there's a vehicle on fire.

(sirens wailing) - All right, folks, it's Crossing South.

I don't know what I'm getting myself into, but let's get it.

(sirens wailing) - This is so cool, I am geeking out here.

We are literally about to respond to fire right now.

They actually did a controlled fire drill demonstration just for us.

They set a van on fire and our job is to put it out.

Here we go.

(sirens wailing) Okay, so I got a bit of an oversized uniform, which made me feel like I was in a NASA space suit.

The fire was set, and the experts are the first ones to go in.

(suspense music) There's a reason they're doing this type of drill.

The vast majority of emergencies they respond to down here are automobile wrecks.

Maybe because the building material in Baja is concrete, rebar, cement, rather than wood, like in the States, maybe that's why there aren't as many house-fires, but who knows?

So this was a drill to put out a vehicle on fire.

As you can see, the firemen are like doing their thing.

These guys are good.

(soft music) Once the fire was more manageable, the boys let me get in there and play firemen.

It's crazy.

Like the water pressure's pretty strong.

It's like a cannon, but if you're ready for it, yeah, I mean a grown adult human being can do it.

Even the easy tasks that you feel may be simple are deceivingly difficult, but it's still pretty awesome.

Mexico doesn't have as much wood structures as in the States.

Most cities you're gonna find old abandoned cars in a car lot.

And then for whatever reason somebody's smoking or whatever, it'll go up and when it goes up, as you can see, it can take out either houses, it can take out property.

That's a real, a very realistic scenario.

(soft upbeat music) Hey, thank you, man!

You're checking off bucket list items for me.

So.

- All right, well now let's go have a fire in a building.

- Oh, wow, okay.

- Alright?

You ready to go?

- I guess.

- Bring it.

- Alright.

Mexican structures are cinder block.

It's going wilfully into a oven.

- Yes, we're gonna put you in one, we're gonna bring you out of it.

(interviewer laughs) (soft upbeat music) - Greg, nice to meet you, Greg Leptich?

- Leptich.

- Leptich?

- Absolutely.

- Greg talk to me, you're from Central Northern California.

- I'm from Pismo Beach.

- Okay.

Okay.

You're hoping a lot of the firemen down here, how?

- I put on a firefighters' charity golf tournament every year.

And I got to know all the fire departments really well through that.

- So, oh, really?

- That gave me the opportunity to go begging for equipment.

- Hey, we're helping guys down there.

- Exactly.

- Can you hook us up?

- And everyone is on board with it.

- So you're bringing a lot of gear?

- [Greg] I have gear in my vehicle as we speak.

There isn't a time that I don't come down here, and it is not loaded with gear.

- Yeah, yeah.

- That we're either bringing a gear or we're bringing fire engines.

I have three fire engines, I have two type-threes and one type-one that hopefully is gonna be crossing the border real soon.

- That's so cool.

- But you have to go through the paperwork to get it here.

- Yeah, of course.

But it's so awesome that you guys like, consider your comrade no matter what country, right?

That your fellow firefighter's in?

- Oh yeah.

- And you wanna hook 'em up.

- Not only that, the guys up there, 'cause a lot of us are instructors.

We want to come down here and help out in the training of these guys.

- Oh wow.

- So we're trying to to get all those things together right.

They fight fire a lot differently than we do on their wild land side of it.

- Okay.

- Because their terrain and everything else is so much different than ours.

- And you're probably like experts worldwide right, on how to fight wildfire, right, or not?

- Especially in California.

- Yeah, for sure.

- If you've watched all the news, I mean it's gotten worse and worse every year.

- So they could probably learn a lot from you guys, sure.

- There's a lot that they can get from us.

- Yeah.

- And we're looking forward to sharing all that with them.

- Very cool.

Greg, you're doing a good thing, my friend.

It was very nice to meet you.

- My pleasure.

- It's good to see the convergence of Goodwill from all around, right?

- We want to help 'em out.

We definitely want to help our brothers out, down south of the border.

- Very nice.

- [Aaron] I'm a captain with the fire department in the United States in California.

- [Interviewer] Oh wow, okay.

- So we've identified some gaps in training and we've decided that, you know, we wanna help fill those gaps.

- [Interviewer] Sure, that's so cool.

- [Aaron] I grew up in TJ.

I grew up in Mexico.

- [Interviewer] Oh really?

- [Aaron] And so as a person that grew up in this area, I have, you know, this town is here.

- It's close to your heart, right?

- [Aaron] Yeah, I've been coming down here since 1995.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Aaron] Was a volunteer with the Red Cross, been doing a lot of rescue stuff down here.

And with my training in the States, I've been bringing that training back down to Mexico.

Some of the things that we've focused, that I've focused on, is mainly rescue.

So we do a lot of training with vehicle (indistinct) Another thing we do is rope-rescue.

- [Interviewer] When you do this training, are you doing it station by station or are you doing collective?

Are you inviting, you know, large groups, or how's it working?

- It's collective.

One of the things that I'm a huge proponent of is, that training should not be geared towards a specific group.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- [Aaron] Or a specific station or a specific city.

We open it up to everyone.

And so we've had people from, believe it or not, Chile.

- No way!

- Yeah, we've had people from Columbia.

- Come all the way up here?

- Yeah all the way up here, for the type of training that we're providing.

- That is so cool.

- And obviously all of Mexico.

- That's how, you know, transcendent your training has been.

- Exactly.

- So obviously the word's gotten out, 'cause how else do they know, that these Americans are giving training in Baja?

- Right.

We've gained a reputation, a good reputation.

- A good reputation.

- [Aaron] As younger generations come in, they push that training.

They have a need and they have this hunger for knowledge.

- [Interviewer] So cool.

- [Aaron] And they see people like us that are, you know, willing to provide the time for free and to, help 'em, you know, learn.

And they come in, they teach themselves, then themselves go and teach others.

And then the older generations, they slowly phase out.

We're trying to teach these people, not only how to use the equipment, but also how to maintain it, so that, you know, it'll last for many, many years.

And one thing that I'm very proud of is that, I see other academies come in, and then those people are teaching other academies as well, you know, as newer generations come in, they learn the same things that I've taught 'em for many years.

- [Interviewer] Yeah, yeah.

- And you know, it makes me very proud.

- [Interviewer] You wanna replicate it, right?

You wanna clone your knowledge so that they can pass it on.

- And you know what?

Sometimes they come back and they go, Hey Aaron!

Oh, you know, most of them call me Captain Miranda.

Kevin Miranda, check this out.

You taught us how to do this.

Look at this variation.

And you know, I learn.

- [Interviewer] No way really?

- That's actually really cool, you know, I didn't know you could do that.

And it's all about learning, right?

It's a big circle of knowledge and it's all good.

- Aaron, very nice to meet you, my friend.

- Nice to meet you.

- Thank you for everything you do.

- Thank you.

- We're not done yet.

We're gonna do more drills here.

So stay with us.

Let's continue folks.

- So what we have here is, these are called air packs.

And there's different kinds of air packs.

All of them are the same brand.

They're all Scott.

They're all different generations.

For example, here we have a 4.5.

This is also a 4.5, but now you have a NextGen.

Most of the tanks will be compatible, but not always.

So what we're trying to do is, making sure that they're all compatible with each other, so that if you and I are working together and I go down, you can provide me with assistance and I don't end up dying, because you didn't know, our equipment was dependable.

- Sorry Aaron.

- Exactly.

- I wanna challenge inventors up there to create a cheap adapter for all hoses around the world.

You can give it away to fire and around the world.

So no matter what you attach to an adapter, you can use it.

- Exactly.

- Challenge thrown, gauntlet is thrown.

(upbeat music) - [Jose] So we're gonna start making a simulation.

They're gonna go to a house on fire.

- We're gonna rescue Andy.

- [Jose] We're gonna risk Andy.

We're trying to make it, you know, full of smoke.

- Okay.

- [Jose] So, but they're.

- Are we gonna need masks or?

- [Jose] No, no, this smoke is the one to use on parties.

- I gotta bring my flaps down.

- Yeah, that's gonna be you.

You have to be safe.

- [Interviewer] Okay, folks, this is it.

This is what we've been trained for.

This brigade is going into a two-storey building, which is on fire.

Wink, wink.

There's low visibility to smoke.

Well, in reality, it's a fog machine, but still low visibility.

And our task is to rescue a dummy called Andy.

This is what legends are made of.

As simple as what you're looking at seems, let me tell you with the suit, with the gear, it's not even comfortable to walk, much less crawling, crouching.

Believe me folks, after eight years of playing football, my knees are shot.

Okay, now I'm just bull-dozing across, not even thinking about Andy's comfort.

I just wanna get Andy out of there.

And let me tell you another thing about Andy.

He is heavy.

But whatever limitations I have physically, I make up for it with stubbornness.

So we tie him up to a hardness and alright, big boy, let's get you outta here.

As Andy is clear of danger, the other firemen have to train in real-time, how to revive a would-be victim and provide them with the needed emergency services to stabilize them after an ordeal like this.

- [Speaker] Oh wow.

you got the way.

Check out the way this fireman gets on to the ladder.

I'll just go out the conventional way, if you don't mind.

- [Speaker] Alright.

- [Interviewer] I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm aching.

Okay, I think I made it outta the building.

Not to mention, I am sweating buckets underneath that suit.

At this point, I'm already realizing that this is a lot dirtier, tougher, than any other way Hollywood portrays firefighting.

I'm so winded.

Oh man, the adrenaline just takes all the oxygen from you.

- [Aaron] Yeah, it does.

Well, and think again, you know, think about, you know, they're breathing compressed air.

- That wasn't even real smoke.

- [Aaron] That wasn't real smoke.

- [Interviewer] Fear, adrenaline.

Really good, boys.

- [Aaron] So then, the last thing they do is a quick briefing, you know, what went right, what went wrong?

What can be improved?

And you know, the, main thing is the victim got rescued.

- We saved Andy.

- [Aaron] You saved Andy.

- [Interviewer] Man, I was like in the middle of it, realizing man, your oxygen, the trouble breathing is a real thing, right?

- [Aaron] Yeah.

- What kind of exercise do you need to do?

Like squat, like a thousand pounds or what?

- A lot of cardio, you have to do a lot of cardio, you know, mainly cardio-functional workouts, heavy weights and stuff like that is good for physique.

- [Interviewer] But there's more weight to carry, right?

- [Aaron] Exactly.

What you want is, you want to do the cardio.

That's what's gonna.

This, you know, a fire, a real fire is maybe 10 minutes of work.

Our SEBA bottles are rated for 30 minutes.

We only do maybe 10 15 minutes of work.

- Okay.

That fight or flight, you know, adrenaline.

- Kicks in?

Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah.

And again, this is simulated, you know.

- There's no room to look fancy.

You just need to get out of there as clumsily as your life, you know, allows you to.

- [Aaron] Exactly.

So now that was a simulated victim, a civilian victim.

Now imagine if it was one of us.

- [Interviewer] Oh my goodness.

- [Aaron] The stress factor, the knowing that is the person you work with, this is the person you live with 24 hours.

- And that does happen, 'cause your work-mate, your companion is in a fire-fighting, so something could happen.

- [Aaron] Yep.

(upbeat music) - This is the youngest volunteer right here.

And, she just graduated from the academy.

So you got young people in the future of firefighting.

Okay, go guys, go, go.

(firemen clap) - Folks, this is not acting, this is the dead of summer.

I am ready to be carried away like Andy away from here.

But it wasn't over.

- He's gonna dress up simulating that we have a firefighter down, alright?

So this is a firefighter, that's gone into a building.

He's fighting a fire.

Firefighter's down.

He's gonna dress up and go get him, notify his incident commander.

- [Interviewer] Okay, so first up, the fastest guy in their station, he said, you guys better make sure that you get it on camera, 'cause I can only do this once.

And I'm like, are you kidding?

You want me to do something your best guy can only do once?

(upbeat music) - [Aaron] So now that he's ready to enter, first thing he's gonna check is make sure that he can get through the breach of wall.

He's gonna check the other side of the wall, get through the wall with his SEBA on.

And now he knows where the firefighter is, 'cause they've been advised that they're at the end of the hose line.

He's gonna follow that hose line.

Main thing is, he has to get there as soon as possible, 'cause he's low on air as well.

There's some areas where he won't be able to get through.

So he's gonna have to lower his profile.

The way he does that is, by loosening up his shoulder straps, getting through the hole, always following the hose line.

(alarm rings) So now he hears the alarm for the down firefighter, he can follow the sound of that down firefighter, is gonna lead him to the firefighter.

The main thing here is that he's gotta keep calm.

even though he knows he has to get to his buddy, he has to get to his partner.

He has to keep calm, he has to conserve his air.

Make sure that panic doesn't sit in, 'cause once panic sits in, then that's it.

So once he finds a firefighter, first thing he's gonna do is cool the room, advise the incident commander.

And he's gonna see if he can assist the firefighter in providing them with air.

He's gonna connect his pick line to the firefighter and give him air.

And now he saved his buddy.

(firemen clap and cheer) - [Aaron] What do you think?

- [Interviewer] There's no way I can do that, but I'll try.

- [Aaron] I'll coach you the whole time, alright?

- [Interviewer] I don't know (indistinct), I'm gonna suck.

Listen, I am slow, my joints ache, I'm claustrophobic, but in sports, both organized or playing with friends, I've never been accused of not hustling.

So here we go.

- [Aaron] One arm through.

There you go.

Nice.

Good job!

(firemen cheering) - [Aaron] Hips, hips, there you go.

Follow the hose line, okay?

Get on your knees, get on your knees, 'cause that's gonna make you more tired, there you go.

Once you get through the tunnel, then get on your belly.

Wiggle through.

- My helmet just keeps tilting forward, blocking my view.

- [Aaron] Doing awesome.

Okay, get on your knees.

Alright, there you go, and now you're gonna go between this Raptor.

this is where you breathe and organize your thoughts.

Keep going whenever you can.

- I'm going to take a nap here.

- [Aaron] Okay (Aaron laughing) - [Aaron] There's no napping in the fire ground.

There you go.

You gonna go feet first, there you go.

You wanna go through that triangle.

Get on your belly there and then go sideways.

One more obstacle.

- [Interviewer] Yeah, iceberg speed folks.

I know, I know, I won't be breaking any records today.

Folks, it's a hundred plus degree weather.

I want this to end.

- [Aaron] There you go, this is where you remember all those tacos you ate last night.

- [Interviewer] Oh these, tacos have eaten for 10 seasons.

- [Aaron] For 10 seasons, there you go.

All right.

- [Interviewer] The camera shot here does not capture how claustrophobic this is.

The plywood feels like it's right in your nose.

I may as well be buried alive for how this feels.

And if you ever thought cheers and encouragement were useless, (firemen cheering) I have to tell you, these guys rooting for me, made a big difference.

I'm not kidding, I was hearing the "Eye of the tiger" music playing in my head.

So once I was out, the whole fire station, cheering me on, clapping and encouraging me.

I got an adrenaline rush.

(firemen cheering and clapping) - [Aaron] Now we have two victims.

(Aaron laughing) - [Aaron] It's where you call for the medic.

- And the other one to rescue me.

- Just joust me with a bucket of water.

- Here we go, there you go.

- Thank you guys.

(people cheering each other) - It's project house.

(chuckles) Man, there should be a workout for like, those CrossFits and everything.

- [Interviewer] I was extremely proud to share this day with Rosarito's modern day superheroes.

(upbeat music) You've seen how they do it here in Baja and it's as good as any place.

So we hope you enjoyed the show folks.

We'll see you next time.

Take care.

- [Interviewer] So after going through the grinder with these real life heroes and having the respect I already had for them enhanced even more, we look forward to the next time we get to cross south.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer 2] Like to know more about the places you've just seen?

Maps, videos, podcasts, and more at CrossingSouth.com.

We also do Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

(upbeat music)