Cal Fire Training Inmate Crews for Wildfire Season

The hills north of Fontana are thick with mustard plants, sage and chamise. This is the growth that has taken hold since the 2003 Grand Prix Fire ravaged the area.

And it was here that inmate crews trained in wildland firefighting Monday in preparation for fire season.

The exercises are part of a four-day statewide fire preparedness training program held by Cal Fire.

"We don't want to send anybody out who's not ready," said Cal Fire spokesman Bill Peters.

Conservation camp crews from Fenner Canyon in Valyermo, Prado in Chino and Pilot Rock in Crestline

were put on a 3-mile timed hike, and tested in cutting fire lines and laying hoses.

"They get points deducted for safety violations," said fire training Battalion Chief Shane Littlefield.

If crews don't score high enough on each of the tests, they will have to take the tests again and could be held back from firefighting.

Jimmy Randolph, 43, a member of the Fenner Canyon crew, says it's his second year participating in fire preparation training. He says he's serving a sentence for petty theft.

"It's something to finish our time positively and to know we're helping out is a good feeling," the Covina man said.

Fire season began April 23, but the start and end dates of fire season change yearly based on weather and the dryness of the vegetation, Peters said.

When asked how busy this fire season will be, Peters says it all comes down to where a fire starts. When the Grand Prix Fire ignited about a mile from where firefighters trained, the vegetation was even thicker and drier.

But nine years have passed, and a lot of the chaparral has come back.

"Every year has the potential to be a hazardous year," Peters said.

Reach Melissa via email or call her at 909-386-3878.

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Copyright 2012 - San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.