The Cuesta Conservation Camp located at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo is one of 35 fire camps within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Participants in the fire camps respond to all types of emergencies such as fires, floods, and other natural or manmade disasters.
Inmate Cornelius Draper is a "lead swamper" for the Cuesta Conservation Camp. His role includes assigning jobs to other crew members and interacting with outside agencies, like CAL FIRE.
Draper says he's serving time at the California Men's Colony for carjacking. Since joining the firefighting program, he has a different outlook on life.
"Basically, I better myself and reprogrammed my subconscious to know how I was living was negative, and now it's like I've got a positive attitude, mind frame, and you know, things are different," he explained. "I'm a different person thanks to CMC, Cuesta Camp, and CAL FIRE."
Nathan Wood came to CMC after being convicted of residential burglary. He has been a swamper in the fire camp for a year and a half.
He explained that before becoming a firefighter, his strength and endurance were put to the test.
"It's a three-week physical fitness training that you do here at the camp with the coaches and then you'll do two weeks of firefighter training down at the CAL FIRE camp," Wood said.
The Cuesta Conservation Camp was dispatched in January to assist with the Palisades Fire. It was an experience the inmate firefighters say they will never forget.
"It's sad to see the destruction that fires can do, but then the impact that we can have, you know, to lessen that I think is the biggest thing," Wood said.
"Usually, we work 24-hour shifts, but there was so much going on we ended up working at 36. Then we had, you know, we held the fire at our end. And, you know, there was like I said, it was devastating," Draper said.
He says being a part of the fire camp will reduce his sentence and pave the way for new job opportunities.
"What the program has to offer is like, I can get a time cut and I can get a job with CAL FIRE later on down the line," Draper said. "I look forward to going into CAL FIRE when I get out. So this is like, this is life-changing."
