About Baja California

Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of 70,113 km² (27,071 sq mi), or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north of the 28th parallel. The state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Sonora, the U.S. State of Arizona, and the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), and on the south by Baja California Sur. Its northern limit is the U.S. state of California.

The state has a population of 2,844,469 (2005 census), and estimated 3,165,776 (June 2009) much more than the sparsely populated Baja California Sur to the south, and similar to San Diego County, California on its north. Over 75% of the population lives in the capital city, Mexicali, in Ensenada, or in Tijuana. Other important cities include San Felipe, Rosarito and Tecate.

Baja California is where it all began, our visit to Tecate in 1999 started us on our path. We began working with the city of Tecate and the Bomberos from around the state. We have been working to bring agencies representing millions of citizens in the State together for more collaborative training and operations. Where borders were distinct and rarely crossed there is now more mutual assistance and development of resources.

In 2009, we began working with the group Bomberos De San Diego, a group of San Diego Fire firefighters that work in the area doing similar work. We partnered to bring training to Tecate initially and eventually worked in Tijuana Bomberos and were able to organize regional training at both Tecate and Tijuana inviting bomberos from around the area. Today, being one of the largest Cities in Mexico, we regularly rely on these Bomberos to assist us in our training.

HomeNewsRegion 1 News & InformationBaja California

Mission to Tecate Day 4

on 29 April 2007. Posted in Baja California

At 1000 monday the 30th the city officials arrived to view the equipment that we brought from our several department donors. After taking the year to sift through the donations we only bring the equipment that is safe and able to be placed into service immediately. As you can see we brought the mother lode of personal protective gear and breathing apparatus. We found the previous years equipment in service and well maintained. A noticeable change this year is the Three engines we were able to arrange from our generous California departments of Turlock and Lathrop-manteca.

After the ceremony and introductions with press and officials, we re-introduced our liaison retired Captain Franco Soliz as our mexico representative. He was officially recognized by his city. Pictured are three engines delivered from the above cities.

Going right to training, our own Hazmat tech, Tyson Depoe from Seattle fire Station 10 proceeded to address a riveted crowd with a well prepared two part training session on hazards and safety issues when dealing with car fires and accidents. Richard Smith the Training Captain from Santee Fire just north of the border visited to see what we were doing. Joel has been in contact with Rich for well over a year and we were glad to meet and greet him. He acknowledged the good work and vowed to keep in touch to see if we can work together to bring better quality training to the area. Thanks Rich.

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