Firefighters share the challenges they are facing while fighting the Lake Fire

More than 3,400 fire personnel are battling the Lake Fire near Los Olivos in tough conditions.

“Steep terrain out there and a lot of poison oak,” Shane Greer, a handcrew firefighter for Orange County said.

Greer is part of a hand crew assigned to the blaze.

“Once we go through and remove the fuel we put our stamp of approval on it after we monitor it and make sure it doesn't spread, and then go to another piece of the fire, and do the same thing,” Greer said.

William Gatti is a Ventura Training Center participant working 24-hour shifts.

“Being out there for 24 hours, so it would be the lack of sleep sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days,” Gatti said.

Gatti’s group from the Ventura Training Center is one of many agencies from in and out of the state helping contain the fire.

Formerly incarcerated, Gatti tells me he enrolled in the 18-month program that offers him a second chance.

“When you get to jail you go to reception and that's where they place you in whatever prison you're going to be at, and you have a classification, so if you're level one or level two with non-violent crimes you qualify for fire camp,” Gatti said.

Part of the training includes working on wildland fires, like the Lake Fire.

“The first day I put my boots on... I fell in love,” Gatti said.

Participants have to have a high school diploma or G.E.D. and meet several other requirements to get into the program.

“We select and pick the top fire camp and firehouse incarcerated men throughout the California system, there's a big selection process,” John Cesario Fire Support for the Ventura Training Center Strike Team said.

Although rewarding, being away from home for the firefights can be difficult.

“I have four kids and a wife back home and I coach football," Cesario said. "It's bittersweet, sweet in the fact we get to get out here and do what we love because we're away from our families."

The Ventura Training program started in 2018 and has been a huge success so far.

Cesario tells me over 200 alumni of the program are now with Cal Fire.