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WEBVTT GOVERNOR BROWN YESTERDAYISSUING A STATE OF EMERGENCY FORTHE AREA.FIREFIGHTERS ARE STRETCHINGTHEIR RESOURCES TO RESPOND TOTHESE WILDFIRES.ERIN: THEY OFTEN RELY ON TRAINEDPRISON INMATES TO HELP WITH ALOT OF THE GROUND WORK.BUT BECAUSE OF RECENT PRISONREFORM LAWS, THEY'VE SEEN A DROPIN THE NUMBER OF INMATES ON THEFRONT LINES.ACTION NEWS REPORTER BIANCABELTRAN JOINS US LIVE WITH THESTORY.BIANCA: THEY HAD THE UNINTENDEDCONSEQUENCE OF REDUCING THENUMBER OF ELIGIBLE FIREFIGHTERS.AS FIREFIGHTERS TACKLE WILDFIRESWITH WATER TANKS ANDHELICOPTERS, GROUND CREWS USESHOVELS, AXES AND CHAINSAWS TOHELP KEEP THE FIRE FROMSPREADING.IN CALIFORNIA MANY OF THOSECREWS ARE MADE UP OF PRISONINMATES, BUT IN RECENT YEARS,PRISON REFORM LEGISLATION HASRESULTED IN A DIP IN THE NUMBEROF PRISONERS TO DO THE WOR>> WE MAY HAVE CREWS THAT USEDTO HAVE 17 PEOPLE STRONG, NOW WEHAVE CREWS AT 13 PEOPLE STRONG.WE ARE MISSING THOSE EXTRAPEOPLE.WE'RE HAVING TO DO MORE WITHLESS AND MAKING DO BUT IT ISDEFINITELY FELT AROUND THESTATE.BIANCA MANY LOW LEVEL OFFENDERS: WHO USED TO GO TO STATEPRISONS ARE NOW SENT TO LOCALJAILS, DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMSOR PAROLE.THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OFCORRRECTIONS AND REHABILIATIONHAS HAD TO RAMP UP RECRUITMENTEFFORTS TO MAINTAIN THEIR INMATEFIRE CREWS, IDENTIFYINGPRISONERS WITH MINIMUM SECURITYCLEARANCE WHO QUALIFY ANDOFFERING THEM THE CHANCE TOJOIN.GREXIT IS VOLUNTARY PROGRAM, YOUCANNOT FORCE PEOPLE TO DO IT.BIANCA SO CDCR HAS CREATED A: RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN WITH AVIDEO AND LITERATURE DISTRIBUTEDIN THE PRISONS EXPLAINING THEPERKS WHICH INCLUDE,HIGHER PAY THAN ANY OTHER INMATEJOB, A CHANCE TO WORK OUTDOORS,AND TIME EARNED OFF THEIRSENTENCE.>> I HAVE SEEN SUCCESS STORIES,PEOPLE THAT HAVE THEM OUT ANDGOT JOBS IN AN SUCCESSFUL, PUTTHEIR KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE,BOUGHT A HOUSE, TAKING CARE OFTHEIR FAMILY.THE UNCLE: BUT IT IS HARD WORK,IN RESPONSE TO THE CHANGINGLAWS, THE FIRE CAMP HAS BEENEXTENDED TO ELIGIBLE INMATES INA DOZEN COUNTY JAILS ACROSS THESTATE.CALFIRE HAS ALSO EXPANDED ITSPARTNERSHIP WITH THE CALIFORNIACONSERVATION CORPS, USING MOREOF THEIR TRAINED FIREFIGHTERS.BUT THEY COME AT A GREATER COST,MINIMUM WAGE COMPARED TO INMATEWAGETHE NUMBER OF INMATES AT THEFIRE CAMPS IS CLIMBING BACK UPBUT ITS AN ONGOING CHALLENGE TOMAKE SURE THEY HAVE A STEADYSUPPLY OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATESTO REPLACE THE INMATESTHAT LEAVE ON PAROLE.DAN: THE MOST RECENT ESTIMATE OFCOST SAVINGS TO TAXPAYERS ISABOUT $124 MILLION A YEAR.ERIN: IN SOUTH MONTEREY COUNTYCREWS ARE MOPPING UP THEPARKFIELD FIRE.

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Summer brings wildfire season in California with flames consuming thousands of acres of land across the state. As firefighters tackle the wildfires with water tanks and helicopters, ground crews use shovels, axes and chainsaws to create a containment line to keep the fire from spreading. In California, many of those crews are made up of prison inmates. They provide approximately 3 million hours of firefighting work and approximately 7 million hours of community work each year. In recent years, laws aimed at reducing overcrowded prisons have had the unintended consequence of leaving the fire crews shorthanded. “When I started running crews, our crews were full they had 17-man crews and there was never an issue with staffing,” said CalFire Battalion Chief George Nunez. “Where we’d lose one, there were four or five waiting to come to the camp program. Now that’s changed with some of the other programs available for inmate firefighters (such as) the early release program. They are qualifying and they are getting out and it’s good for them but on the backside of that, it leaves a challenge of trying to staff what used to be a 17-man crew is now in some cases down to 12.”Many people who used to be sent to state prisons for relatively low level felony convictions now go to jails instead so to compensate, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation opened up the opportunity to a dozen counties who also meet their requirements and are willing to volunteer for the job.CDCR Public Information Officer Bill Sessa says they have to work harder to keep the numbers up. “We are actively recruiting inmates by offering up the perks that come with working in a camp but ultimately the number of inmates that we have is dictated by the number who volunteer.”The perks include the chance to work outdoors and be housed in a minimum security environment. The pay is higher than any other inmate job--$2 for each day in camp and $1 an hour for time on the fire line. Inmates can also accelerate their release from prison by earning credits for their time in camp. But not everyone qualifies and it is labor intensive work. CalFire Battalion Chief George Nunez says many of the inmate firefighters has worked with have turned their lives around. “I’ve seen people that have come out and got jobs and been successful, put their kids through college, bought a house taken care of their family.”According to CDCR, the recidivism rates for inmates who have completed the firefighting program is 10 percent lower than the general inmate population. The most recent estimate of cost-savings to taxpayers is approximately $124 million per year. A recruitment campaign has been launched in the prisons with a video and literature being distributed to inmates in an effort to get them to sign up. Sessa says they have about 3,901 inmates in 43 fire camps spread between near the Oregon border and the Mexican border, which is typical. The challenge is is making sure they have a steady supply of potential candidates to replace the inmates that leave on parole. “It’s also important to recognize that our primary purpose as a prison system is rehabilitation and we are very glad to provide any avenue for that whether it is counseling and discussion groups whether it is the lessons learned in the fire camps whether it’s the skills they learn in vocational and job programs.”CalFire has also expanded its partnership with the California Conservation Corps, employing trained firefighters from their two fire centers in California. Corps members receive free training and an opportunity to start a career as a firefighter. They get paid state minimum wage which can be as much as much as 10 times more than inmate wages.