Trace Adkins Performs for Inmate Firefighters in California

Wildfires are a serious problem that plague the state of California, and Trace Adkins is saluting a rather unlikely bunch of folks who are fighting the blazes. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) have created a program to train inmates as firefighters. It's a program the country star greatly admires, so he recently decided to give a little of his time to the cause.

On Sunday (June 24), Trace tweeted the above photo with this message: "Visiting Sugar Pine Camp 9 just east of Redding. Did a few songs and met some hard working inmate firefighters. Great experience."

The brave men with whom Trace spent time this weekend concentrate their efforts on Shasta County in Northern California. In addition to their work with the fire department, the inmates assist with floods, conservation projects and community services. Sugar Pine Conservation Camp also includes the Cal Fire Engraving Shop, where inmates produce signs, plaques, nameplates for various agencies, as well as the Cal Fire Cabinet Shop which churns out a variety of items from oak cabinets to one-of-a-kind birdhouses.

Trace has had his share of experiences with fire, likely adding to his affinity for the work Sugar Pine is doing. A little more than a year ago, the father of five lost his Brentwood, Tenn., home to a blaze that was attributed to an electrical issue. Though it may have been a traumatic experience, the good humored singer found a silver lining to the ordeal.

"The best thing that came out of the whole thing for me, and it's an affirmation of something that I already suspected, that I wasn't that much of a material guy," he told Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean. "I'm not a slave to material things. I always kind of thought that, but after that I knew it. I'm not."

The trip to Sugar Pine Camp wasn't too out of the way for the singer, whose Songs & Stories tour had him in Redding, Calif., that night. The Louisiana native will stay in the Sunshine State for a bit longer; his next show is tomorrow (June 26) in Santa Rosa. Get a full list of Trace Adkins tour dates here.

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