CALIFORNIA INMATES ON THE FIRELINE
Last week, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency in Southern California counties besieged by wildfires, 55 young men – wards of the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp – rushed to join firefighting efforts from Santa Barbara south to Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
The camp’s strike team was part of a total of 2,234 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmates and wards dispatched to Southern California to aid in firefighting efforts. The Pine Grove Youth Conservation camp, located a mile above Pine Grove, sent four trained crews, 55 youths and 12 staff members to help suppress the Freeway Incident Fire in Orange County, which has burned more than 28,000 acres, damaged or destroyed over 160 homes and required mandatory evacuations and road closures.
CDCR firefighters from Mule Creek State Prison also joined forces with CAL FIRE on this effort. Last Friday, two Mule Creek State Prison fire captains joined the Amador County Strike Team and reported to Santa Barbara County to assist in fighting the wildfires.
Wind gusts had peaked to more than 70 mph at the height of the fires over the weekend, but by Monday morning they weakened to about 20 mph, the National Weather Service said.
“It’s wonderful news,” Angela Garbiso, a spokeswoman with Orange County Fire Authority, said Monday. “When it calms down, it obviously makes it easier for us to handle this massive undertaking.”
The fires that started last Thursday night and burned in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, have burned nearly 41,000 acres or 64 square miles.
In Southern California’s Orange and Riverside counties, the fires chewed through nearly 29,000 acres and were pushing toward Diamond Bar in Los Angeles County. A major aerial attack on Sunday raised containment to 40 percent.
“By the time we make the long trip down there, the major portion of the fires are usually contained,” Harry Linden, Pine Grove’s assistant camp superintendent, told the Ledger Dispatch. “But they need our crews for the mop-up operations, to completely eliminate any chance that smoldering ashes, dry weeds or wind may start another blaze.”
As fires reach the 100 percent containment stage, inmates and wards also perform clean-up activities such as clearing roads and debris long after the final flames have been extinguished.
“We don’t just send our wards,” Linden explained. “Camp staff goes along, six experienced men from CAL FIRE and six correctional officers to make sure the men are kept in secure circumstances, for example, when they are eating and showering.”
After five grueling days of fire mop-up, most of the men are back now. “The others were working all day today, supporting the efforts to gain control over these fires,” Linden said Wednesday. “They won’t be back until the job is finished.”
Some of the young wards-of-the-court, from l8 to 24 years old, were called away from their camp’s high school and GED graduation ceremony last Friday when the CAL FIRE call came. “They will be honored in a special ceremony when the fire season is over,” Linden said.
Inmates and wards were deployed from other Northern California centers: Sierra Conservation Center in nearby Jamestown deployed 85 crews supervised by 102 CDCR staff. The California Correctional Center deployed 55 crews supervised by 80 CDCR staff. According to CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, “Inmate and ward firefighting crews and the custody staff are a critical component of the state’s effort to battle the Southern California wildfires. They are highly skilled and self-sufficient, enabling them to go to where bulldozers and heavy equipment cannot go.”
Since 1946, the Conservation Camp Program has provided California with a well-trained, well-equipped workforce for fire suppression. More than 4,400 male and female inmates participate in the program, which consists of approximately 200 fire crews. The crews respond to nearly every type of emergency, including wildfires, floods, search and rescue operations, and earthquakes. They also log millions of hours annually on fire reduction and conservation projects and provide forest, range and watershed enhancement on public lands.
“The Conservation Camp Program helps offenders learn valuable skills, teamwork and discipline that will serve them well when they are released from prison,” Cate added. “The citizens of California benefit by having a fully trained workforce able to respond to fires, while saving more than $80 million every year that otherwise would be paid to accomplish the same tasks.”
CDCR jointly manages 39 adult and juvenile camps with CAL FIRE and five adult camps with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Only minimum-custody inmates may participate in the Conservation Camp Program.
By Helen Bonner
Friday, November 21, 2008
