California inmates offer helping hands during fire season

We are very selective about the inmates that go into fire camp program precisely because they are out in the community, but also because the camp environment is much different than a prison – it requires inmates that are disciplined, that are willing to obey the rules, that do not have any violent behavior and also are willing to do the job. It’s important to remember that all of the inmates who work on inmate fire crews volunteer for the assignment. No one is assigned to a fire camp or assigned against their will.

They don’t do the glamorous stuff. They don’t fly the airplanes and they don’t run the water truck. They are a ground crew. They typically work in crews of a dozen or 14 at a time, the lead guy has a chainsaw, everybody else has hand tools, and their main job is to cut a containment line that stops the spread of a fire.

They’re supervised by correctional officers while they’re in the camp. They are supervised and directed by fire experts from Cal Fire when they’re out in the field. I know it does sound a little bit alarming that we have inmates in the community – in all the years that we have had this program, we have never, ever had a problem in the community with anybody or any crew.