Incarcerated California Firefighters

The once-in-a-generation wildfires in California now come yearly, as the state has experienced eight of the largest wildfires within the last five years. To combat these fires, California has enlisted firefighters from out-of-state and sometimes other countries to fight these deadly wildfires. Another significant and often overlooked source of manpower against wildfires is the prison population.

Since World War Two, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in partnership with Cal Fire, have run the Conservation (Fire) Camp Program. The Conservation Camp Program trains eligible incarcerated persons to become firefighters as a source of rehabilitation. Members of the program undergo one week of classroom instruction and one week of field training and exercises. After those two weeks, they are eligible to be in firefighter crews.

Cal Fire employs prisoners to do the “dirty work” in fighting fires; create fire breaks, clear vegetation, and spend weeks at the front lines of wildfires. Fire breaks are critical to fighting wildfires. Unlike structural fires, fighting wildfires requires a strategy of containment. Digging fire breaks and creating breaks in vegetation slows down the rapidly expanding blazes and allows crews to start trying to put them out rather than minimize damage.

Former incarcerated firefighter Amika Mota detailed her experiences, stating “I spent two and a half years fighting wildland fires, responding to car crashes, and rushing to homes to extinguish blazes. There, I was trained to use the jaws of life tool to extricate victims from mangled cars. I learned to battle brush and structure fires and ran into harm’s way while keeping my crew members safe.”

While doing this dangerous work, Mota was paid 37 cents an hour. Due to the long hours at the front lines, incarcerated firefighters are disproportionately at risk of being injured fighting fires. 

“I didn't really know, like, you know, what a wildland firefighter was. But once I got there, as time went on, I actually embraced it and I fell in love with it. It's definitely a dangerous job, right?" said Royal Ramey, who was released from prison in 2014. Ramey is the co-founder and CEO of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, a nonprofit based in California that helps formerly incarcerated firefighters find employment.

As we watch the horrors of the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires burn through Southern California with currently zero percent containment, remember the exhaustive work done by all first responders to keep Los Angeles and surrounding cities safe.

Let's also hold in our thoughts the incarcerated firefighters also doing heroic work at the front lines, and if the opportunity ever comes up at the ballot box to pay them appropriately for their live-saving work, that we take it and urge all voters to remember why their services are invaluable.