, California is preparing to shut down one of its main training facilities for inmate firefighters as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce the state’s prison population.
“We are in desperate need of these programs,” said Brandon Dunham, a former United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management firefighter who founded and hosts a podcast for wildland firefighters called “.” “We’re already short-staffed and have dismal numbers. They need us and we need them.”
“The inmate crews are one of the largest assets Northern California has. Literally,” said Lassen County Supervisor Gary Bridges. In October, state officials announced the closure of eight inmate firefighting camps, four of them in Northern California, and the consolidation of inmates into 35 remaining camps. The change allowed Cal Fire and the corrections department to be “more efficient and better staffed for response to wildfires, other emergencies, and engagement in conservation-related work,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in an announcement.
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