California’s inmate firefighters risk their lives. The least we can do is offer them a job

Every year, California faces another devastating wildfire season, and every year, volunteer inmate firefighters put their lives on the line to protect our communities. Yet after their sentences are served, these brave men and women still face barriers to continuing to work as firefighters.

Emergency medical technician and responder licenses, which are essential for many professional crews, are impossible to obtain with a criminal background. This is the first year ex-inmates who have fought fires as members of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s fire camps can petition to have their records expunged in an expedited process.

“This legislation rights a historic wrong and recognizes the sacrifice of thousands of incarcerated people who have helped battle wildfires in our state,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in signing Assembly Bill 2147 last year. But the new law left many of these firefighters in limbo, unable to expunge their records quickly enough to continue to work on the lines this year. It’s clear the law is on the right track, but it’s simply not working fast enough.

About 1,600 inmates were working in fire camps as of May, according to the state, 900 of them qualified to work on fire lines. These inmate crews make up about a third of the state’s firefighting force and respond to other emergencies, including floods, landslides and search-and-rescue operations.

The inmate volunteers must already meet a number of requirements, including “minimum custody” status — the lowest-security classification for inmates based on sustained good behavior — and participation in rehabilitative programming. When they’re not on fire lines, they help clear brush and fallen trees, maintain parks and participate in flood protection and reforestation.

For all this, the inmates are paid $2.90 to $5.12 per day, with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection contributing another $1 an hour while they are actively working on fires. (Inmates working other jobs inside prisons are paid far less than that, 8 to 37 cents an hour.) They agree to the dangerous work at low wages in return for time off their sentences, but as The Bee reported Wednesday, some inmate firefighters allege that delayed release dates are denying them that benefit, too.

Meanwhile, the climate crisis is making wildfires worse. Five of California’s 10 largest wildfires on record were last year, and the state set a record for acres burned, according to data from NASA. This year, more than 8,000 wildfires across the state burned nearly 2.5 million acres before October’s unusual rainfall brought the season to an early conclusion. And California isn’t alone: Oregon, Washington and Colorado have also faced increasingly severe wildfire seasons thanks to climate change.

Cal Fire has cited a lack of fire crews among its top concerns in recent years, making inmate crews that much more crucial. They also save California taxpayers approximately $100 million each year, according to prison officials. Yet when their members are released from prison, we let the training and experience they’ve accumulated go up in smoke.

This is a dereliction of the state’s duty to help prisoners re-enter society while maximizing firefighting resources. Now that the 2021 fire season is over, the state needs to start clearing a path for these former inmates to continue their crucial work in time for the 2022 season. California need not punish former convicts past their sentences, especially when their rehabilitation includes risking their lives for our safety.

This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.