Inmate fire crews in danger: grand jury

By J. Harry Jones, U-T San Diego -

The San Diego County Grand Jury has issued a report stressing the need to continue inmate firefighting camps in the county and recommending studies be done and plans be put in place to ensure that a new state law doesn’t affect backcountry firefighting readiness.

In 2011 the state enacted a court-ordered law, the California Public Safety Realignment Act, designed to reduce overcrowding in its 33 prisons.

According to the grand jury’s report, one of the unintended consequences of the law is that low-risk inmates, some of whom would have been assigned to fire camps throughout the state, will now be housed in county jails or be placed on probation and will no longer be able to fight fires.

Inmate firefighters have been used for decades to perform crucial work during firestorms and for duties such as clearing brush from vulnerable areas before a fire strikes.

The state’s corrections department, in conjunction with Cal Fire, operate 42 fire camps throughout the state, four of them in San Diego County. Each camp has between 90 and 150 inmates.

In 2011 there were 4,400 state prison inmates assigned to fire camps, but it’s estimated that only 2,200 inmates will qualify to volunteer for firefighting over the next several years because of the new law, according to the report.

The grand jury recommends that plans should be developed by the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department to monitor the effects of the law on firefighting. The plans should have the goal of keeping the four existing fire camps open year-round using current levels of qualified firefighting inmates from either state or county detention facilities, and should be finalized by June 1, 2014, the grand jury says.

“The grand jury finds that in order to maintain current levels of inmate firefighters within San Diego County, future firefighter-eligible detainees could be drawn from county jail populations,” the report states.

That could be costly. Under the new law counties would have to pay the corrections department $46 per inmate per day to house them as firefighters within the fire camps.

Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Clamser said on Thursday the department is in the process of coming up with a contract with the state to send inmates to the fire camps with the hope that the prisoners will be used in the county.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who represents large swaths of the county’s rural areas, issued the following statement Thursday: “I fully support using county inmates at state fire camps and look forward to working with Sheriff Gore to bring the issue before the Board of Supervisors. The continued operation of these camps is essential to the region. They provide the boots on the ground we need to help battle wildfires and lower the risk of a disaster.”

There are four camps in the county, two for women and two for men. The female camps are Puerta La Cruz near Warner Springs and Rainbow. Male inmates are housed at the La Cima camp near Julian and at a camp in McCain Valley.

The Grand Jury investigates the operations of governmental programs in the area. A new Grand Jury is chosen each year. Members are nominated by Superior Court Judges and serve one-year terms.

To read the report click here.