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| Rescue Squad Leaves With Prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/01/2002 |
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The stretch of road from Barstow to Nevada is more than 100 miles of wide-open desert highway, the quickest route to Las Vegas for Southern Californians seeking a weekend getaway. It is also one of the region's deadliest places to drive - and could get even worse under a cost-cutting proposal by Gov. Gray Davis that seeks to shut down the minimum-security prison in Baker. Inmates there make up the only local fire and rescue team serving the area. Without that rescue team, authorities worry that highway carnage could worsen in an isolated area where summer temperatures routinely soar well above 100 degrees. In the past three years, 127 people have been killed and 2,003 injured on Interstate 15's link between the two states, used by millions of desert-seekers and gambling-bound travelers. 'Response time, especially on the weekends, could be one to two hours,' said Tracey Martinez, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino County. 'With the extreme temperatures in the area, it could be a matter of life or death.' For the county, replacing the crew won't come cheap. Fire officials have estimated it will cost $900,000 a year to staff a three-person crew out of Baker and $800,000 to build a new fire station - money Martinez said the county doesn't have and is trying to get from the state and federal government. Residents of Baker believed the days of people trapped for hours inside or under mangled cars were behind them when the prison rescue team was formed 13 years ago. The town of about 600, surrounded by scrub brush, dry desert sand and brown mountains, serves largely as a rest stop for people on the way to Las Vegas or nearby Death Valley. Without the rescue crew, help will be more than 40 miles away in Harvard, Calif., a small town on the outskirts of Barstow. Trained in using the Jaws of Life and giving CPR, the inmates say their work has not only taught them about teamwork, but also provided them with an opportunity to repay society. Hoping to save $5 million, Davis announced plans to shut down five privately run prisons, including the Baker facility. The prisons would be closed by June 30 and their 1,400 inmates transferred elsewhere. Davis, citing a declining prison population, also has recommended the state's four other privately run lockups be closed when their contracts expire in 2007. Although the Legislature could ignore the request and provide continued funding for the prisons, the governor could eliminate that with his line-item veto. |
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