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Podcasts Take Two
Riverside County considers using inmates to fight fires
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Apr 23, 2013
Listen • 5:15
Riverside County considers using inmates to fight fires
The Riverside County board of Supervisors is considering a proposal to allow as many as 200 of their local inmates to battle fires in California. Prisoners have long played an important role in firefighting in this state, but that's changed recently thanks to prison realignment.
A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter drops water near an inmate hand crew cutting a containment line on a ridge at the Williams fire in the Angeles National Forest on September 4, 2012 north of Glendora, California. The fire began late September 2, putting an early end to Labor Day weekend camping and hiking for vacationers, who were evacuated from the area as it spread to more than 4,000 acres in size. Officials project that it will take at least another week to establish a containment line around the fire which is burning in rugged and difficult to reach backcountry.
A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter drops water near an inmate hand crew cutting a containment line on a ridge at the Williams fire in the Angeles National Forest on September 4, 2012 north of Glendora, California. The fire began late September 2, putting an early end to Labor Day weekend camping and hiking for vacationers, who were evacuated from the area as it spread to more than 4,000 acres in size. Officials project that it will take at least another week to establish a containment line around the fire which is burning in rugged and difficult to reach backcountry.
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David McNew/Getty Images
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The Riverside County board of Supervisors is considering a proposal to allow as many as 200 of their local inmates to battle fires in California. Prisoners have long played an important role in firefighting in this state, but that's changed recently thanks to prison realignment.

The Riverside County board of Supervisors is considering a proposal to allow as many as 200 of their local inmates to battle fires in California. Prisoners have long played an important role in firefighting in this state, but that's changed recently thanks to prison realignment. 

For more on this, we're joined now by Daniel Berlant of Cal Fire.