Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

California Makes Minimum-Security Inmates Into Firefighters

Aired August 26, 2001 - 08:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN ANCHOR: Firefighters said to be gaining the upper-hand now in fighting forest fires in eight Western states. In all, more than 20,000 firefighters now on the job, some of them from unusual backgrounds, as Thomas Nybo reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THOMAS NYBO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet one of California's newest firefighters. Her name is Desiree (ph), and she is 21 years old.

DESIREE: My mom, definitely, she don't like me out here. She don't like the idea that I'm out here fighting fires.

NYBO (on camera): What did she say the first time you told her you were going out fighting fires?

DESIREE: She said, oh, I don't think I like that idea. I'm scared. But dad thinks it's cool. He thinks I'm losing weight out here. Let me tell you, a little more than he thinks.

NYBO (voice-over): She's part of the state's only Female Youth Authority Crew. Young women who ran into trouble when they were girls, and were placed under state control. Now, they're repaying their debt by protecting the community.

Back at the main camp for firefighters, you'll see male minimum security inmates everywhere, serving the food, unloading supplies. For some, this is as close as they get to fires.

Other inmates serve at the front. You can recognize them by their special orange helmets. They work quick, and when their shift is done, entertainment sometimes wears a strange face.

(on camera): When you think of where firefighters come from, South Central Los Angeles might not top the list, but that's where the Highlanders are from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our group, Highlanders, crew 60. Crew 60.

NYBO: Is that kind of like a shout, or something?

(voice-over): The first thing you learn when you ride the Highlanders bus, everyone has a nickname.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His name is Six Seven.

NYBO (on camera): Six Seven? That's what you call him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. That's his height.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we call him.

NYBO: I kind of figured that one out.

MARLON, HIGHLANDER FIREFIGHTER: Marlon, aka Too Live. Yeah. Everybody call me Too Live on the crew, though.

WILL, HIGHLANDER FIREFIGHTER: I'm Will. I'm aka the Kid. I'm the youngest one, 20.

NYBO (voice-over): Six Seven, Too Live, the Kid, they all agree on one thing. When you live in South Central, sometimes the safest place to be is fighting fire on the frontline.

There are, of course, more traditional firefighters. Old timers with names like Shymer (ph) and Hotson (ph).

These are the battalion chiefs. They only see each other a couple of times a year, under the worst conditions, but they are family, and the smiles and the laughs come easy.

This is the only life they know, and that's fine by them. They go about their business, and leave the chanting for the new generation of firefighters.

Thomas Nybo, CNN, reporting from Macreek (ph) fire, outside Colcherville (ph), California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com