Hundreds of inmates help fight California wildfires (ASL – 11.3.19)

Transcript

Firefighters in California have good news.

They say they are making significant progress in fighting some of the wildfires plaguing the state.

According to Cal Fire officials, the Easy fire in Simi Valley is now 100 percent contained.

The wildfire started October 30th and burned more than 1,800 acres before being fully extinguished Saturday.

The Hill fire in Jurupa Valley is also 100 percent contained after burning about 628 acres.

And the Kincade fire in Sonoma County is about 74 percent contained.

That fire has been burning for 9 days and has burned more than 77,000 acres.

We have learned that firefighters were assisted in fighting the Kincade fire by 400 California inmates.

This is a picture of some of them fueling up to continue the battle.

California employs about 3,100 inmates as part of its California Conservation Camp Program which provides critical support to state and federal agencies responding to emergencies such as wildfdires, floods and other disasters.

About 2,100 of those inmates are authorized to fight fires.

The Conservation Camp Program is jointly run by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Only low security prisoners with a record of good behavior are eligible to participate.

Those who volunteer get the same entry level training the state’s seasonal firefighers receive.

The wages are higher than most other prison jobs, but the risk is significantly greater.

The Closed Caption version of this video can be found here: https://sign1news.com/2019/11/03/sign1news-11-3-19/

Sign1News is the first and only digital network, partnered with world news leader CNN, to offer on-line news and information in American Sign Language. Sign1News provides equal access to local, regional and national news and information to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community via a daily post-produced broadcast. Sign1News: Your Life. Your Language.