Up to half of the state's
inmate firefighters
are currently unavailable
to serve the northern half
of the state.
California prison officials
placed 12 of the state's
43 inmate fire camps
on lockdown thanks
to a giant COVID-19
outbreak at a Lassen
County prison.
That prison was
the training center
for the Conservation
Camp Program.
Over 2,000 California
inmates serve
on the front lines
of the state's blazes.
Overall, the program
has over 3,000 inmates
stationed at minimum
security facilities
across 27 counties.
Cal Fire has about
6,500 year-round
employees.
That swells to about
9,000 during fire season.
Inmates earn between
$2 and $5 per day,
plus $1 per hour
while fighting a fire.
It's a horrible job,
but I suppose
better than
being locked up
in a prison cell,
A few weeks ago
at least 220 inmates
at Susanville prison,
located 120 miles north
of Lake Tahoe tested
positive for COVID-19
over two weeks.
So the California Department
of Corrections stopped all
movement in and out
of the prison.
And that includes sending
inmates to the conservation
camps, according to the
state prison system
spokesman, Aaron Francis.
Until the lockdown lifts,
only 30 of the state’s
77 inmate crews are available
to fight a wildfire in the
northern part of the state,
prison officials said.
California’s incarcerated
firefighters have been
the state’s primary firefighting
“hand crews,” during their
dry season.
The state is hunting
for bulldozer crews
and enlisting teams
that normally clear brush
as their replacements.
Reduced manpower will create
a bigger than usual challenge
for the state, if any large fires
break out this year.
They can’t replace the low risk
inmates with high-risk inmates.
The purpose of the program
is to fight fires at low cost.
Putting high-risk inmates
out there would endanger
local citizens.
In their orange
fire uniforms,
inmates typically do
the dangerous jobs.
They use chainsaws
and hand tools to cut
fire lines around properties
and neighborhoods
during wildfires.
Each crew has 17 inmates,
supervised in the field
typically by a Cal Fire captain.
Sometimes a
correctional officer
will go with them on
out-of-county assignments,
or on local assignments
near residential areas.
The Sacramento Bee notes
that the number of inmates
available to fight fires has been
"steadily decreasing
in recent years".
Only low-level felons
are eligible, which state
officials have been diverting
to county custody or
releasing them back
into the public.
The department reduced
the overall population
of the prison system
by almost 10,000 inmates
since March.
The prison system
also has suspended
intake from county jails,
contributing to the
decreased number
of prisoners held
by the state.
Typically, 90 inmate
fire crews are available
to fight fires
in Northern California.
This year there were just
77 assigned to the region
and that was BEFORE
the COVID-19 pandemic hit.