Migrants Trapped in October Wildfires Tell Their Stories

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 13, 2008 at 9:45 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Many migrants heading north into the US from Mexico last fall were caught in the devastating wildfires that swept through San Diego County. Local journalist Laura Castaneda captured the stories of thr

Tom Fudge : When wildfires flew across San Diego County last October, one of them, the Harris Fire, burned along the county's southern border with Mexico. It's an area that is full of migrant trails, used by Mexicans and others who seek to cross the border into the U.S. As a result of that, seven of the people who died in our October wildfires were illegal migrants. Aside from those who died, several were severely burned. At one point, eleven of the 18 people in the UCSD Hospital's burn unit were Mexican border crossers.

Become a KPBS sponsor

You can see The Devil's Breath: The Border Crossers Caught in San Diego Wildfires next Monday, May 19 at 8 p.m. on UCSD-TV.

Guest

Laura Castaneda , local journalist who's been covering the border region since 1990. She's produced a new documentary called The Devil's Breath about border crossers caught in last October's wildfires.