California Conservation Corps fire crews have been battling the fires since Sunday.
(SAN DIEGO) - Wildland firefighters have accomplished a great deal in recent days, getting a grip on most of the offshore wind driven fires that raged through several Southern California counties.
Three of the significant fires still burning are in San Diego County. The Harris Fire is 90 percent contained. The Witch Fire is 97 percent contained, and the Poomacha Fire is 70 percent contained.
Fire teams have made good progress at the Slide Fire in San Bernardino County, which is currently 95 percent contained. Orange County's Santiago Fire in the meanwhile, is 75 percent contained.
One of the groups putting serious energy into the firefighting effort is the California Conservation Corps. CCC fire crews have been used in this capacity for many years. It is a state agency that hires young men and women between the ages of 18 to 25, for a year of natural resource work and emergency response.
California Conservation Corps crews have been working on several of the state's fires, cutting fire trails and performing the other laborious jobs related to battling flames on terrain that is rarely level where fires burn.
CCC crews are often dispatched where needed throughout the state within hours. Since the Corps was established in 1976, their crews have provided eight million hours of emergency work, responding to nearly every major natural disaster in California.
For the CCC wildland firefighters, responding to an emergency may mean 12-hour days, often 10 to 14 days at a time, before being relieved by a fresh crew. CCC firefighters say they have been up as much as 48 hours at at time fighting the California wildfires.
But despite the long hours, most say they find the work among the most rewarding in the CCC. The video below shows them in action.
Watch the video below to see California Conservation Corps Firefighting crew "Shasta 21" battling the Poomacha fire in San Diego County, courtesy of YouTube and the CCC.
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