A 2011 California state law aimed at reducing the prison population has also reduced the number of low-level offenders eligible to work as wildland firefighters in the state’sinmatefire camps.
A report from utsandiego.com (http://bit.ly/16OlMN4) tells how the Public Safety Realignment Act transferred responsibility for housing some offenders from the state to the counties, meaning the loss of thousands of offenders who could assist firefighters with wildland operations.
Captain Jorge Santana, a fire camp liaison for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said early projections showed that the number ofinmatesin the camps might shrink from more than 4,300 to about 2,500, but he expects the number to hover around 4,000.
Read more about the situation athttp://bit.ly/16OlMN4.
For more on wildfire operations, considerTHE WILDLAND INTERFACE: IMPACT ON LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTSandRapid Structure Triage for Wildland Operations.
