Lake County >> Another round of inmate crews from the CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will continue their annual Fire Crew Preparedness Exercises on Thursday in Lake County. They received a full day of training on Wednesday.
Eleven crews from Delta and Konocti conservation camps, each consisting of about 15 men, receive training and evaluations on fire response procedures as well learn about bulldozer and helicopter safety.
“We use crews to cut a fire line on wildland fires,” division chief Jim Wright said. “In order to be ready for that, we need to test them.”
From engines to utilities, the crews must perform a safety inspection on 250 pieces of equipment in about 20 minutes, fleet manager Chris Galvich said.
“It’s just important that things are looked at to where they can arrive safely to the incident. We don’t want to have another crisis we are going to,” Galvich said. “It shows that we are providing a safe environment for people to go to the incident with.”
Crews also must take a timed, 4-mile hike on varying terrain carrying about 40 pounds worth of gear — not including the tools they are carrying and heavy clothing, helmets and gloves they wear.
“They start on a ridge top and drop down several hundred feet into the lake bottom and come back up. It’s a good chug to get back up,” Wright said.
After a break, the men set out do line cutting, a task that requires them to clear an area of vegetation in order to contain a fire and must be completed in an hour.
“Some of them learn stuff that they were never exposed to in their life. Some of them are from the inner city area of the state and never had an experience like this,” Wright said. “They like doing something good, they may have never had that opportunity before.”
In order to join a crew, inmates must meet requirements set for by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDRC), then go through intensive training in Susanville, Wright said.
The partnership between CAL FIRE and CDRC operates 39 conservation camps with approximately 200 fire crews throughout California. Inmates who participate in the program have a better record of not returning to jail.
Wright, who has worked with the Konocti Conservation Camp crew for about six years, is not sure why that is, but said some have shown “exceptional qualities” and have been able to use trades learned on the field once they are released from custody.
“I think everyone of them takes pride in what they do,” he said. “They get competitive with other crews trying to get a better time, and that alone tells me that they have pride.”
