New Mexico Teams On The Way To California

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – Nearly three dozen members of the New Mexico Disaster Medical Assistance Team are on their way to California to help with medical relief efforts associated with the wildfires.

The team will focus on handling any patient surges from evacuations and first responder injuries.

Twenty-one firefighters and at least 24 other people have been injured.

One person was killed, and the San Diego medical examiner’s officer listed five other deaths as connected to the blazes.

The New Mexico team is sponsored by the University of New Mexico’s Center for Disaster Medicine.

It has the ability to provide disaster medicine in an austere environment and to provide for its own logistical needs.

Team members travel with medical equipment and supplies as well as shelter, food, water, purification systems, communications and other equipment.