Cal Fire actually maintains training and readiness year-round for the wildfire season. And there’s a more visible sign of that Tuesday and Wednesday. The Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit is hosting it’s annual Type One Certification Exercises on their Reader Ranch property in North San Juan. Public Information Officer Mary Eldridge says it tests the organization and fortitude of crews, by putting them through physical fitness tests, line construction, and fire shelter drills. Timing coordinations are also vital…

click to listen to Mary Eldridge

And Eldridge says fire crews not only perform wildland suppression efforts. They also participate in search and rescue, flood control, and other all-risk emergency incidents…

click to listen to Mary Eldridge

And to make sure that they keep full staffing levels each season, Eldridge says Cal Fire has longstanding partnerships with the California National Guard, California Conservation Corps, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. She says the National Guard and Conservation Corps have recently stepped up to compensate for the reduction of prison inmate crews, where there are now only two available.