2012 Fire Camp Articles and Pictures of Crews Working

[ZD_K]

The 2012 Season is off to an early start with Lake-Napa Unit Soda Canyon fire. At least eight hand crews participated.



Fire Season Starts Early with 200-Acre Blaze
“It’s very uncommon to have a wildland fire this size and the way it is burning so early in the year. This has all of the indicators of a summer wildland fire,” said Brian Hampton, CalFire specialist and fire investigator.

read article at http://napa.patch.com/articles/soda-...#photo-9179033

[ZD_K]

Fire Camp crews work on community projects when not working on (or training for) fires... Here is a project of Mountain Home Camp:



"The collaboration between CAL FIRE, which operates the Mountain Home camp, the Corps and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reaches far beyond the amphitheater, said Larry Pendarvis, a CAL FIRE spokesman. For more than 25 years, all three have been working to complete projects across the state."


Read the article at http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/art...ars-completion

[Sheryl P.]

God I pray somehow my man can go back to fire camp and fighting fires!
To all of your with loved ones out there doing this hard job,may God keep them safe from harm and bring them home soon.

[ZD_K]

Sonora, CA -- ... The state prisoners in the camps often perform maintenance and assist with projects for T.U.D. The state has decided it wants more of a firm agreement in place with various agencies moving forward because the livelihood of conservation camps is in jeopardy due to ongoing state budget cuts and prisoner realignment programs.

Read the article at http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/loc...-CAL-Fire.html

[Sheryl P.]

Originally Posted by ZD_K

Sonora, CA -- ... The state prisoners in the camps often perform maintenance and assist with projects for T.U.D. The state has decided it wants more of a firm agreement in place with various agencies moving forward because the livelihood of conservation camps is in jeopardy due to ongoing state budget cuts and prisoner realignment programs.

Read the article at http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/loc...-CAL-Fire.html

To take away these programs makes no economic sense since they save a lot of money due to the paltry amounts of money prisoners get for their hard work.Now I understand they need some support staff but they still save money and get hard workers who sometimes risk their lives to get the job done.

[ZD_K]

Originally Posted by Sheryl P.

To take away these programs makes no economic sense since they save a lot of money due to the paltry amounts of money prisoners get for their hard work.Now I understand they need some support staff but they still save money and get hard workers who sometimes risk their lives to get the job done.

February 1, 2012 Lake Elsinore: "A new bill introduced by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore) aims to keep intact inmate fire crews."

http://lakeelsinore-wildomar.patch.c...#photo-5621861

[Imani]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2h2p...ure=plpp_video

[Imani]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXb0v...eature=related

[ZD_K]

This is the time of year for preparedness exercises all over the state. Several camps get to 'compete' to show how well they hike, cut line, deploy shelters, etc.

Article and video of Atascadero exercise is at this link:http://www.ksby.com/news/cal-fire-su.../#!prettyPhoto[gallery]/0/

[ZD_K]

http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/17...ining-underway

Alas, I have NO idea how to embed videos.

[Imani]

Originally Posted by ZD_K

http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/17...ining-underway

Alas, I have NO idea how to embed videos.

Hope this works

http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/17...clipId=7032577

I guess it only works with YouTube.

[ZD_K]

San Bernardino unit posts about the current exercises in
http://calfirebdu.blogspot.com/2012/...nnual.html?m=1

"The crews are attending the exercises over four days; April 30 and May 1, 2, and 3, 2012. A different number of crews are scheduled to participate each day. The crews come from Fenner, Pilot Rock, Prado and Owens Valley Camps."

Fire Season is upon us, and it is a VERY dry year... May all the crews be safe.

[CrownTown]

PTO won't let me post the video directly here but this video is awesome to see.

CrownTown

http://www.fdnntv.com/CAL-FIRE-Inmate-Firefighters


There are a total of 39 CAL FIRE conservation camps throughout the State of California with 169 crews performing project work and fighting fires. Each crew includes anywhere from 13 to 17 people and three of those crews are strictly women. According to Captain Chad Moxley with the Norco Conservation Camp, CAL FIRE has been using inmate crews for firefighting since the early 1980's. Prior to that, CAL FIRE used inmate crews in conservation work as early as the 1950's.

Inmates are selected by the Department of Corrections from their institutions. The minimum security inmates have to demonstrate a level of physical fitness to be accepted into the program. They are then turned over to CAL FIRE for 64 hours of basic wildland firefighter training. "There's a lot of physical demands in this job and we wanna make sure that they're ready for it. We can teach anybody to swing a shovel, swing a Pulaski, but we need to make sure that they can walk that 3 miles uphill to get to the fire," states Moxley.

Despite the fact that the work is difficult, it is definitely an advantage to be assigned to one of these camps because there is a great amount of freedom for the inmates at most of the camps where they live. Captain Moxley claims that there are fences at some conservation camps, but that others do not contain fences. Security personnel from the Department of Corrections, staffed by CAL FIRE captains, are on-site at the camps to monitor the inmates.

Once assigned to a camp, inmates will train continuously until they respond to fires. Riverside County crews were recently put through another part of their training, an annual fire preparedness exercise. Captain Moxley reported that the exercise brings three camps together in a setting where they can compete against one another in different evolutions for the upcoming fire season. "There's a lot of pride that comes out of this program," declares Moxley. The inmate crews also respond to other emergencies including floods, earthquakes and search and rescue missions.

Moxley explains that several of the conservation camps have what they call 'in-camp products.' At the Norco Conservation Camp, their main product is their engraving and sign shop. The inmates create signs that go on CAL FIRE's fire apparatus. They also do work for local youth sports groups making trophies for the kids. Moxley adds, "We utilize those folks with their special talents or skills that they have in our projects that we do for our sponsors or local government agencies."

"California, I think, is a model in utilizing the inmate crews. They've been using them for years. [It brings] Substantial savings to the public and it's a good benefit to the public." Moxley says taxpayers save well over a billion dollars each year. Inmates receive a small amount of compensation, around $1.45 a day, for project work. When they respond to fires, inmates are paid emergency wages of $1.00 per hour from the time that they leave the camp to the time they return. Other benefits are "day for day" where they earn an additional day off of their sentence for every day that they work.

Participating in CAL FIRE's wildland firefighting program is a good way for inmates to slowly assimulate back into the public. Captain Chad Moxley says, "They get a feeling of self-worth. They are out there working everyday and doing something. When my inmate firefighters step off that bus in your community to fight your fire, we're there as firefighters. We're not there representing the prison, we're there representing CAL FIRE and our team."

[ZD_K]

http://www.redwoodtimes.com/garbervi...rain-2012-fire

[ZD_K]

There is a video at the end of the article too.

http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/new...ng-preparation

[CrownTown]

Originally Posted by ZD_K

There is a video at the end of the article too.

http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/new...ng-preparation

One of them is my man....He told me they had camera crews following them ALL day....I'm going to send him these pictures to see if he can tell me which one he is....Thank you for posting this!!

CrownTown

[ZD_K]

CDCR was one of the agencies cooperating on the Banner Fire, and obviously Norco Crew 4 was there... or at least their CCV was.




Banner Fire is expected to be fully contained soon, mop up continues after containment though.

Article at http://ramona.patch.com/articles/ban...photo-10080537

[Cesarlove]

Brush fire in Castiac, Ca.

Firefighters expect to fully contain a brush fire in Castaic by noon Saturday while fire crews 124 miles away in Hemet worked to surround a blaze that grew to about 80 acres.

The fire, north of Santa Clarita was about 60 percent contained Saturday morning. The blaze broke out on the west side of Interstate 5, north of Parker Road, about 1 p.m. Friday.

It had burned more than 600 acres, according to Los Angeles County firefighters and National Forest Service spokesman.

No flames were visible late Friday and firefighters were in "mop-up mode," said Nathan Judy of the Forest Service.

Firefighters did not know the cause.

No evacuations were ordered, and no injuries were reported.

About 250 firefighters were assigned to the job.

The northbound interstate lanes were closed at Lake Hughes Road for about seven hours as a precaution, but the lanes were reopened about 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to the CHP.

It was the second brush fire reported Friday.

Officials said a fire in Hemet grew to 80 acres in the area of Indian Creek Road in unincorporated Valle Vista. That fire was 50 percent contained as of 9:45 a.m. Saturday.

[ZD_K]

http://www.kalw.org/post/serving-time-fire-line

[ZD_K]

"Wildfires are a serious problem that plague the state of California, and Trace Adkins is saluting a rather unlikely bunch of folks who are fighting the blazes. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) have created a program to train inmates as firefighters. It's a program the country star greatly admires..."

http://www.theboot.com/2012/06/25/tr...rs-california/


HOW COOL IS THAT????? Sugar Pine Rocks :-)

[ZD_K]

Trinity River [CCV for Crew 1 in picture] and Sugar Pine crews all assigned within hours of the fire starting, Ishi crews called in also, maybe more. Fire is more than 1000 acres, containment expected Saturday, and significant time after that for mop-up.

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jul...artner=popular

[ZD_K]

Lots of Cal Fire hand crews in the southern california area contribute to taming the Panorama Fire in cooperation with the National Forest Service and local fire departments.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/cali...me-evacuations

[ZD_K]

Eel River crew pictured. [Out of County for them!] See news article at http://www.sfgate.com/nation/slidesh...#photo-3188519

Cal Fire incident information at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents...ncident_id=666

Fire is still very active.

[CrownTown]

It shows Salt Creek Camp at the end of the video.

http://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor....4008862295351

CrownTown

[Ms Catt]

Originally Posted by CrownTown

It shows Salt Creek Camp at the end of the video.

http://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor....4008862295351

CrownTown

Damn that was nice video girl great job or who ever I always wonder what it looked like when he's on a fire thanks