Sugar Pine Fire Troop

After an bleak drive through smoke and around fallen burning trees I happened upon Sugar Pine Fire Troop and followed them in their work. I followed them for a few hours and it was exhausting. They do that work for 16 hour shifts several days in a row. Before I saw them that day they had saved a boy scout camp on the coast, but had gotten stuck in the woods as a tree fell upon their exit.

my coverage from the wildfires today, with a focus on an inmate fire troop from Sugar Pine. #CZULightningComplex #SantaCruzFire #firefighters #BoulderCreek #CZUAugustLightingComplex A few notable facts from this film Sign up for service and they only have to do 1/3 of their time Sugar Pine - Troop 6 -2 - 9 - Anything else is an imitation $1 an hour for inmate firefighters compared to average 90k for typical CA firefighter Man interviewed owns 1000 acres. Says he had one bad day and ended up here Nobody has been sentenced to more then 5 years Have to go through a review with the board and be deemed non-violent Susanville conservation camp - sugar pine Bella vista - out of Redding Motto is second to none They make signs, laser engravings They actually sleep in the field, pretty close to the fire to stay warm at night They saved the Girl Scout camp but got trapped in during the fire fight as the road got burned out, they had to wait for a bulldozer Major danger is the falling trees These guys have been working for 60 hours