Inmates To Man Georgia Fire Stations

From the "It seemed like a good idea at the time" department, a cash strapped county in Georgia plans to use jail inmates to staff fire stations, AND answer actual fire calls!

Camden County Officials plan to utilize selected inmates, up to 2-3 per station, in three different firehouses.  They would have no guard, but be supervised by a firefighter given additional training to deal with such inmates.  These inmates would answer any and all traditional fire calls, including actual house fires.  Inmates charged with such offenses as drug charges and thefts would still be eligible for consideration into the program. The county says it could save up to 500k a year under this program.  We thought we were reading an old new story from April 1, until we saw this item has been confirmed by the Associated Press.   'honey, they put out the fire in the garage, but now the car is missing...'   We will definitely monitor the success or failure of this program.  Kinda makes the TSA look like the CIA when it comes to job screening.