Last week, as Americans mourned the destruction and death caused by raging fires in Los Angeles, both Canada and Mexico sent firefighters and equipment to California. It is what good neighbors do. They help each other as best they can when help is needed, without being asked and without keeping score.

The terrible numbers in Los Angeles get worse every hour, but at one point last week Cal Fire reported that at least 5,000 buildings had been destroyed by the Palisades Fire and 7,000 buildings had been damaged or destroyed by the Eaton Fire, which includes the Altadena area. Each one is like losing an entire small city.

The wildfires altogether — including the Hurst and Auto fires — have destroyed over 40,000 acres, and at least 24 people have been killed, with the prospect of a rising death toll once the area can be searched. By week’s end, the firefighters caught a brief break in the conditions that have fed the fires, but the National Weather Service warned that the “Devil Winds” that spread fiery embers could return.

Wildland firefighters spend days fighting fires that range for miles. And some of those on the front lines in California have stayed on the job even though they have lost their own homes.

When a tragedy so large and so final takes place, it can bring us to our senses. That’s what happened in the days after 9/11. I remember waiting in the checkout line of an unusually quiet supermarket, hearing the cashier say thank you to each customer and add this quiet comment: “We have to be nicer to each other.” She’s still right.

On 9/11, firefighters and police officers and paramedics ran into the Twin Towers without any regard for their own safety and with a pretty good sense that they might never make it out. They had taken an oath to protect the public, and they kept it.

Firefighters — every day — rush headlong into unknown danger as fast as they can. We’re supposed to pull over for them in traffic as best we can manage, but otherwise we go about our business once they pass. And we seldom give a second thought to what they had to deal with at the end of their call, unless some tragedy makes the news.

Lou Guzzo, a master firefighter for the city of Pittsburgh, says, “There are so many variables of danger that you don’t think about it. But fighting fires is the most labor-intensive work ever. You can put in an eight-hour day in half an hour.

“And it’s the same with professional firefighters and volunteers. No one does this job to become a millionaire. If someone needs help, firefighters show up. Anytime, anywhere.”

That certainly explains why firefighters from Canada and Mexico are fighting the wildfires that are still burning in California. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened those countries with tariffs that could start a trade war and upend their economies. He has threatened to close the borders between our countries. He has insulted their leaders and their people. He has even suggested that we could invade or annex their countries.

But maybe we all can do better if we start to think like a firefighter. As Lou Guzzo says, “A good firefighter doesn’t care about any of that. We show up when our neighbors need help. That’s it.”

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