Fire Crews
Department: California Conservation Corps
Program Description: The California Conservation Corps operates more than two dozen wildland firefighting hand crews. These fire hand crews operate at 15 CCC locations across California. The CCC partners with CAL FIRE, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Parks Service to provide hand crews to fight and prevent wildland fires throughout the state.
In 2021, the Legislature and administration approved funding for 8 permanent (“year-round”) and 6 seasonal CCC-CAL FIRE crews. This partnership addresses the state’s need for increased firefighting capacity and workforce development. The effect is two-fold: in the off season, greater fuels work is completed; and during fire season, there are more crews for fire and emergency response. Altogether, these crews work toward decreasing the impact of, if not preventing, catastrophic wildfires.
Program Impact:
In 2021, and per the Fire Resiliency package, the CCC onboarded the following fire crews:
Year-round: Delta (2), Tahoe (2), Los Piños (2)
Seasonal: Fortuna (1), Monterey (Watsonville) (1), Pomona (1), Redding (1), San Diego (1), and Ukiah/Willits (1)
In 2022, and per the Fire Resiliency package, the CCC funded the following fire crews:
Year-round: Los Piños (2*), Ukiah/Willits (2*), Monterey (Watsonville) (1), Pomona (1), San Diego (1), and Fresno (1)
Seasonal: Fortuna (1) and Redding (1)
*The second Ukiah/Willits crew and the two Los Piños crews have been delayed and are expected to be fully implemented in the spring of 2023.
Resilience in Action:
- Between July 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021, the CCC had 46 Corpsmembers transition out of the CCC into jobs related to fire, forestry, or arborist-related careers.
- 2021 – Together, these 12 crews went on 260 dispatches to a total of 166 incidents. They were assigned to these incidents for an aggregated 1,121 days. Corpsmembers from these crews had 191,071 emergency project hours. This does not count hours that were not invoiced (e.g., several single day fires that were extinguished within the regular workday).
- 2022 – Together, the seven crews funded in 2022 went on 85 dispatches to a total of 66 incidents, so far in the current fiscal year. They were assigned to these incidents for an aggregated 253 days. Corpsmembers from these crews have 46,482 emergency project hours.
Tahoe crews 1 and 2 work to contain the Colorado Fire in Monterey County as the sun sets on the Pacific in January 2022.
Corpsmembers with San Diego 4 keep a close eye on a controlled burn during training.
Corpsmembers from Monterey Bay 1 fire crew prepare for their next task following a line cut during the annual readiness exercise.
