Mexican firefighters receive training to prepare for battling Palisades Fire

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - More than 70 firefighters from Mexico received training Sunday to prepare them for the front lines of the Palisades Fire.

The firefighters arrived Saturday at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and received training at the March Air Reserve in Riverside. The group includes members of the federal fire team and the Mexican Army.

The 73 firefighters will work alongside local fire crews to set up firelines.

CalFire says they are thankful for the added manpower.

"They've done their classroom portion on the safety aspects of wildland firefighting, and they're out here today practicing their shelter appointments in the event they were to be in entrapped by fire they would have a good understanding of what their last resort survivability would be.

It's extremely important to have the help from our neighbors. Not only do we have Mexico down here, we have the Canada firefighters coming in here today, we have multiple other state entities here, yesterday we saw Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana."

Curtis Rhodes, CalFire

The Mexican team is expected to head to Pacific Palisades on Monday.