Team Rubicon working on fire mitigation in San Bernardino Mountains

The veteran-led volunteer organization Team Rubicon is working to reduce wildfire risks, with a crew in the San Bernardino Mountains chopping down around 100 trees this week.

About 28 volunteers, including chainsaw and heavy equipment operators, are targeting trees considered dangerous at Scouting America's Camp Tahquitz.  

"Team Rubicon is jumping, neck deep, into fire mitigation work," Robin Brown, Team Rubicon member, said.  

The camp at Angelus Oaks sits in a high-priority wildfire scar zone plagued by heavy, dried-out timber and dead trees.

Fire mitigation at the approximately square-mile camp also includes thinning the tree population to prevent a wildfire from moving through too quickly.

"Usually we're on hurricanes and tornadoes, but we're doing more and more fire mitigations because it seems like we're having more and more fires, so we're trying to make spaces defensible," Bob Bussey, Team Rubicon member, said.

It's hard work, but team members say they get gratification simply by helping people. Team Rubicon is expanding its fire mitigation program in California.

"One of the most important things to ensure is that we allow the emergency services to continue to fight the fires," Team Rubicon CEO Art delaCruz said in a statement. "Our jobs will be to make it easier for firefighters to do theirs." 

The organization seeks volunteers, including veterans, first responders, or anyone willing to work and to be deployed to various operations.