The orange-suited, tool-wielding inmate fire crew chewed through manzanita and redshank on a Bautista Canyon hillside like a herd of hungry goats.
As two men from the Bautista Conservation Camp, southeast of Hemet, used chain saws to cut a fire break, a third followed with a Pulaski — a hybrid ax and hoe — to pull debris and roots off the path the crew created. Others followed with a McCloud, a six-spike rake that removes heavier brush. Still others followed with a leaf rake to clear the break.
“Who’s going to beat Bautista in Bautista?” a Cal Fire captain shouted.
“Nobody,” the crew responded.