Name: Malian refugees turn to firefighting to give back to their communities
Uploaded: 2025-12-18T17:18:14.284Z
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: Refugee firefighters sway in line and beat the ground with spindly tree branches as the sun sets over the barren Mauritanian desert.

Refugee firefighters sway in line and beat the ground with spindly tree branches as the sun sets over the barren Mauritanian desert.

Malian refugees living in Mauritania have taken on the role of volunteer firefighters, working to combat frequent and dangerous bushfires in the region. Over the past decade, these refugees have developed effective firefighting techniques and now collaborate closely with local authorities.

Their work not only protects the environment but also serves as a way to give back to the communities that provided them refuge after fleeing violence in Mali. With climate change making resources scarcer, the efforts of over 360 refugee volunteers have become vital for both refugees and local residents.

Malian refugees turn to firefighting to give back to their communities

Somalian firefighters, who also double up as refugees, are giving back to their communities in Mauritania. Over more than a decade, firefighting bushfires, they have perfected the technique of cracking wood against the dry grasslands. In this region of West Africa, bushfires are deadly. They can break out in the blink of an eye and last for days. Firefighting has now become a livelihood for most of these refugees. We must adapt. We cannot go into exile. We cannot go to Europe, abandon our homes. So we must resist. We must fight. We must face these changes to our climate in order to adapt and be able to stay at home. For the refugee firefighters, battling the blaze is a way of giving back to the local community, which took them in when they fled violence and instability at home in Mali. Upon arriving, firefighting was one of the avenues or places that they found refuge. When there was not so many people, when there was water is available, the food is available for animals, the situation was much more simple. But with the climate change, even the Mauritanians cannot find enough for their own animals. And that's where even a single bushfire becomes a life-threatening to their resilience, to their well-being of refugees in those communities. The volunteers today count over 360 refugees who work with the local Mauritanian authorities and firefighters. When a bushfire breaks out and the alert comes in, the firefighters jump into their pickup trucks and drive out.

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