>People build their houses out in the wild & complain to
>keep the government from doing controlled
>burning. Then when the fires come, their
>houses are the highest priority.
A lot of those coming to the rescue are prisoners:
>They're the unsung heroes in fighting Southern
>California's wildfires and they're convicted felons.
>
>"We save million-dollar homes for a dollar an
>hour," said Ricky Frank, 33, doing a 10-year
>stretch for theft. "You get to help people. It's
>better doing this than being locked up."
>
>More than half of the state's 3,800 full-time
>wildland firefighters are prison inmates earning
>$1 an hour as they work off sentences for
>nonviolent crimes such as theft and drug
>possession. About 2,150 offenders either
>minimum security wards of the California Youth
>Authority or adults sentenced to the California
>Department of Corrections have been out battling the flames.
>
>"We wouldn't be half the fire department we are
>now without them," said Karen Terrill, forestry
>department spokeswoman. "I could tell you
>stories that would bring tears to your eyes."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-03-inmate-firefighters_x.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0711/p01s02-usgn.html