There are 38 Conservation Camps in California with more than 4,000 male and female inmates making up about 180 fire crews. Only minimum custody inmates can participate in the program. To qualify they must be physically fit and have no record of violent crime, sex offenses or arson. The average sentence for inmates selected for the camps is less than two years. After being selected, they go through a two-week physical fitness training program and another two weeks of fire safety and suppression techniques.
Weekly instruction follows the initial learning period.
The inmate crews, also known as hand crews, are the backbone of many wildfire fighting efforts, providing the muscle that allows regular CDF firefighters to fulfill their mission. A hand crew is made up of 16 inmates and supervising personnel. The 1,347 inmate firefighters made up more than two-thirds of the fire personnel on the scene. Last year, the inmates worked more than 1.5 million hours on 244 fires. In July 1999, inmate Firefighter Martin Stiles was killed in the line of duty battling the Piru blaze in Ventura County.