A huge village has sprung up on the golden sands of a beach in Malibu, housing thousands of firefighters.Firefighters from all over North America eat, sleep and recuperate on Zuma Beach when they aren’t battling the wildfires across Los Angeles.
About 5,000 first responders mingle among the trailers and tents. The camp comes to life before dawn, as thousands line up for breakfast.
The standards of dozens of firefighting battalions mark the presence of crews from across California and the western United States, as well as a contingent of newly arrived Mexicans.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for many, a chance to load up on calories before their shift.
The food is prepared by a team of inmates from California’s prisons, brought in to help in one of the biggest disaster responses the state has ever seen.
Correctional Officer Terry Cook, who supervises inmates at the base, said he occasionally sees a familiar face among the regular firefighters, someone who got themselves back on the straight and narrow after serving their sentence. Advertisement
“I’ve run into inmates that were at my camp two years ago, and I see them in line here, and I shake their hands, and I say ‘congratulations,’” he said.
Two huge fires in Los Angeles have scorched 40,000 acres (16,000 hecta …
