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| Female cons to fight blazes |
| By The Arizona Republic |
| Published: 04/11/2005 |
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Staci Stagner pauses a moment to wipe the layer of dust from her parched lips. With little time to spare, the 41-year-old hoists an ax high above her head before ramming it into the ground with all her might. Down the line, a few beads of sweat form on Rebecca Dean's forehead as she yanks weeds and brush from the earth. She's a youngster at 24, but she does the job like a pro. "Standing tall and looking good . . . ought to be in Hollywood!" they chant. "Stay alert! Stay alive!" Meet the "Firewalkers," Arizona's first and only all-female inmate wildland firefighting crew. The program, believed to be only the second of its type in the nation, was spearheaded this year by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano in an effort to place more certified inmate firefighters on the front lines of the state's wildfires. Arizona has more than 200 male inmates currently certified to battle wildland blazes across the state. But this summer, Dean and Stagner, inmates at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville in Goodyear, became two of 16 women selected for an opportunity once reserved for male counterparts. "Just getting out there in the wilderness, possibly saving people's houses and their livelihood, that's going to be a wonderful feeling," said Stagner, the crew's oldest member. The inaugural training program for these self-proclaimed Firewalkers includes intensive physical workouts - daily 2-mile runs and dozens of push-ups are the norm - along with nearly 60 hours of classroom and field training. Everyone on the crew is classified as non-violent and a low flight risk. When the Firewalkers completed their courses last month, they became state-certified wildland firefighters, equipped to battle any blaze and work alongside non-inmate crews. Guarded by a sergeant and two corrections officers from the prison, the crew can remain at a wildfire up to two weeks. |
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