Who is Fighting the Fires in California?

Remember that a lot of firefighters are actually prisoners. That might be OK in a sense–better than being in a cell. But what are they getting paid? Not much. And given that they are risking their lives for this work, that’s really unacceptable.

Chuy Hernandez turned 18 when he was at Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp (PGYCC), the only remaining “fire camp” for incarcerated youth in California. He’d spent the previous six months working with the kitchen crew, until he was legally old enough to work as a wildland firefighter. 

In the weeks leading up to his 18th birthday, Hernandez began the rigorous training process required to make it on a fire hand crew. There were hours of hiking and fitness conditioning, classroom lessons taught by a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) captain, and a series of tests on various firefighting skills. By the time Hernandez was of legal age, he had undergone the same kind of training as a seasonal, entry-level California firefighter at a firefighting academy. When Hernandez was released three years later, he had become first man on his hand crew and racked up significant on-the-job experience.

But Hernandez struggled to find a full-time job as a firefighter, despite California’s serious shortage of firefighters in recent years. The closest he’s gotten to professional fire work since leaving Pine Grove five years ago is on a hand crew with the California Conservation Corps, an organization that hires young people, including previously incarcerated firefighters, for a year to “work on environmental projects and respond to natural and manmade disasters.” Their motto: “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions, and more!” 

….

Pine Grove’s name and facilities evoke a summer camp. There are no fences, no guard towers; there are communal spaces for living and leisure time, rows of bunk beds, and pine trees in every direction. “I was really amazed at how free we were,” says Hernandez. “I wasn’t thinking about running, but it is a lot more freedom than being in a cell.” 

Despite its minimal security, Pine Grove is a California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) facility. It’s where teenage boys and young men ages 17 to 24 are incarcerated, and, as soon as they turn 18, are formally trained to contain and prevent California’s ever-worsening wildfires. These teenagers and young men — 95% of whom are Black, Latinx, or Filipino — earn between $2.20 and $4 per hour, plus an additional $1 an hour when they’re actively fighting fires, according to the DJJ.

…

The inexpensive labor of incarcerated firefighters is a critical part of the state’s plan to get through wildfire season, which has become, as a symptom of the climate crisis, an almost year-round concern. Roughly 27% of the state’s firefighters were incarcerated in 2018 and 2019, earning mere dollars a day while free firefighters make an average $41.76 an hour. The pandemic exposed the government’s dependency on prison labor after thousands of inmates contracted, were potentially exposed to COVID-19, or were released from prison to limit the virus’s spread, drastically cutting the firefighting workforce. 

If you want to make the case for offering prisoners the chance to fight fires, I can at least theoretically get behind it. What I can’t abide is the exploitation model of labor behind it.