Inmate Firefighter Dies During Training Exercise Near Morongo

Inmate fire crews clear brush on the Morongo reservation in May 2013.

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An inmate firefighter suffered a fatal heart attack while engaged in an exercise on the Morongo Indian Reservation, authorities said this week.

Raymond Araujo, 37, died Monday afternoon after he collapsed while training with fellow members of an inmate hand crew in the Hathaway Canyon area of the reservation, northeast of Banning, according to the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.

“The inmates who volunteer to protect our communities from the devastation of fires perform a valuable public service, and it is a sad event when we lose one of them,” CDCR Undersecretary Scott Kernan said in response to Araujo’s death.

According to corrections officials, after Araujo passed out, he was airlifted back to a base camp, where Riverside County Fire Department paramedics and Cal Fire personnel attempted unsuccessfully to revive him.

The victim was one of 43 county inmates who had volunteered to deploy for wildland firefighting and brush clearance operations throughout Southern California, according to the CDCR.

Cal Fire has a total 3,900 inmates assigned to hand crews statewide, officials said. Convicts who qualify are given the option of working on hand crews in lieu of serving time behind bars.

According to court records, Araujo was convicted of burglary last year.

– By City News Service.