The 800 firefighters, forming 52 hand crews, come from 11 conservation camps as far north as Deadwood Camp in Siskiyou County and south to Washington Ridge outside Nevada City. Although they will not confront any actual fire situations during training, they'll be tested on group fire shelter deployment. Then we'll inspect the safety of their equipment and their vehicles. They'll also be given a maximum of 75 minutes to hike four miles through overgrown wildland lugging full packs. After a 20-minute break, they'll scythe 300 feet of fire line.
Physical fitness is vital for hand crews.
As foot soldiers in CDF's vast army, they go into the hot spots, clearing vegetation and cutting paths for other firefighters to follow. Statewide CDF has 41 conservation camps. According to Karen Terrill, chief information officer for CDF, two are maintained by the California Conservation Corps. The rest house minimum security adult and youthful offenders. We don't have fences and walls.