Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey recently signed legislation that allows 700 more inmates over the next two years to help reduce the risk of wildfires by thinning out an area.
Tiffany Davila, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, says the move should help reduce the risk of Arizona wildfires.
“We do a lot of work with fuels mitigation throughout the year, we do a lot of prescribed burning but we need to increase that work. We have a lot of at risk communities in Arizona,” Davila said. “They’ll be going through a chainsaw training that is part of the wildland fire program, so they’ll be able to safely and effectively learn how to use a chainsaw the proper way when they're out working on these projects.”
She says these inmates will be thinning out vegetation and not putting out wildfires.
Davila says thinning out an area of overgrown vegetation helps reduce the threat of wildfires and protects forests and wildlife.
The department already uses more than 200 inmates to fight wildfires.
