Meet the all-female firefighting crew tackling California wildfires

The California Conservation Corps has introduced its first-ever all-female firefighting crew.

The band of 14 young women have stepped up to the daunting challenge of fighting the state’s worsening wildfires.

They make up one of more than 20 fire crews acting as an informal pipeline for state and federal fire agencies who are trying to bolster numbers in the wake of longer and more extreme wildfire seasons.

This historic crew will be working in another long and intense fire season in California, after blazes ripped through 4.2 million acres and 10,000 buildings in 2020, leaving 33 people dead including four firefighters.