Fifteen years of international bonding was commemorated at the H Street Fire Station in Bakersfield Tuesday morning.
Since 2005, the Bakersfield Fire Department has worked with the fire department of its sister city Queretaro, Mexico, with each organization making several trips across the border to engage in training sessions.
This relationship continued Tuesday, when BFD officials and Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh presented a certificate of appreciation and a Mayor's Medal to Queretaro Fire Department CFO Myriam Vallarino Hernando and COO Fernando Palacios, who were visiting the city.
"Knowing that the brother and sisterhood of the Bakersfield Fire Department (is) extending beyond our borders is ... crucial and rewarding," Bakersfield Fire Chief Anthony Galagaza said.
Trips to Bakersfield have become a regular occurrence for Palacios, who says he and his staff have become highly comfortable in the city and around its firefighters.
"It's like coming home," said Palacios, who's been with the Queretaro Fire Department since 2004. "It's like our second family. You get into a fire station, and it's the same feeling as being in a station back home."
Palacios says donations from Bakersfield, including items such as fire hoses, clothing and self-contained breathing apparatuses, have been crucial to the growth of his department, which is routinely dealing with budgetary issues.
Galagaza says getting to see the way things are done in another country has helped give his department a new perspective on how to conduct its business.
"It's fantastic to gain the knowledge of their area as well as our area and see what really happens outside of the United States, outside of California, outside of Bakersfield," Galagaza said. "It just helps us grow in our knowledge. And when we teach other departments, it just makes us that much better."
Galagaza says the bond felt by firefighters from all nations has been on display in recent months, as numerous Mexican crews have made their way to California to help battle the wildfires ravaging the state.
Seeing how important it is to have such unity among departments, Galagaza expects the relationship with Queretaro will only grow in the coming years.
“We have sustained this relationship since 2005, and we’re going to keep it up," he said. "We don’t want this (to last) 15 years, we want it to extend over time and continue that relationship, that bond.”
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