REDDING, Calif. — Behind River Ridge Terrace in Redding, where the monstrous Carr fire had destroyed homes, a fire crew of 20 men used shovels to stab the charred earth.

Under the blazing sun, the clinking of metal stopped when one of the men, while scooping out dirt from under a tree, spotted smoke rising from the ground.

“Humo!” he shouted in Spanish.

From afar, the mop-up operation was typical firefighting work, with one exception – it was being done by mostly Mexican immigrants who spend their off-seasons picking oranges, lemons and cherries across Washington, Oregon and California.

Each year, thousands of immigrants work as wildland firefighters, plying the trade at a time when extreme weather is producing larger and more destructive fires in the West.

“I’d say for the last 15 years, the Hispanic population started to get more involved in this kind of work,” said Federico Rocha Sr., a Mexican immigrant and the team’s boss.

The private contract crew arrived five days ago in Redding, conducting control burns and mop-up work in an effort to help fight the wildfire that swept through Shasta and Trinity counties.

The fire has devoured more than 1,000 homes and scorched more than 115,000 acres.

Officials said more than 13,000 firefighters are currently on duty, fighting 17 large fires that have burned more than 320,000 acres and displaced more than 32,000 residents across the state. Seventeen states have offered assistance to California during the last week, sending help from as far away as Maine and Florida.

For the first time in its 110-year history, the U.S. Forest Service has spent more than 50 percent of its budget to suppress the nation’s wildfires. Fire seasons are also 78 days longer than in 1970s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Under these conditions, every bit of muscle helps – and field workers know hard labor.

A 2007 report by the American Immigration Council found that a significant number of wildland firefighters were immigrants, mostly Mexican-born men.

Shasta County is Trump country. The president won the county with 65 percent of the vote. In February, Shasta County voted to become a “non-sanctuary” zone for immigrants in the country illegally.

But for the fire crew of Mexican immigrants, politics never enters the mind. This isn’t about Trump or his supporters, or about border walls. It’s about the pride of protecting people’s homes. Rocha, a Mexican immigrant himself, said residents have been grateful.

“When people appreciate what we do, it makes us feel good,” he said. “Even at stores, people thank us and they’re happy we’re here helping.”

The fire crew was trained and hired by R&R Contracting, a private company based in Salem, Ore., and operated by one of Rocha’s relatives. The company is also just one of hundreds in Oregon that are contracted by state and federal governments to fight forest fires.

Experts say Oregon is in the forefront of states that have created certification programs for contract firefighters. A sizable number of them are Latino immigrants.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection could not immediately say what percentage of its firefighters were immigrants.

From an observational standpoint, Mike Mohler, deputy director of communications for Cal Fire, said the department is pretty diverse.

“I know we have Russians and we have Mexicans represented up and down the state,” he said.

Leaning on his shovel, sweating, 46-year-old Juan Cisneros, a Mexican immigrant, said it was his second year with the crew.

In the off-season, he’s out picking mostly oranges in Visalia, earning money to help care for his wife and four daughters.

“This job is hard and a little dangerous,” he said. “But you have to do what you can for the family.”

Cisneros, who is from Michoacan, said the job is hard work because of the heavy gear and intense labor.

“It can get tiring,” he said, adding that while it is physically challenging, it is rewarding.

“I feel important when someone says thank you for the work we do,” he said. “When we’re walking around people say thank you to us for being here and fighting a fire.”

Pablo Araujo, who picks cherries in Washington during the off-season, said the job has been growing on him.

“I’ve spent most of my life picking cherries,” he said. “But now, I don’t know. This job is interesting.”

Along Quartz Hill Road, where the men were trying to scrape dirt away to get to the smoldering roots of a tree, a man in a white truck drove by with his head out the window.

“Good work guys!” he yelled, giving a thumbs up. “Thank you!”

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