Firefighting Offers a Way Out for California's Offenders

Generally ignored by the media is the fact that 4,000 of California's front line firefighters are convicted felons.

by: Lou Angeli

San Diego County, CA (October 25, 2007) -- California officials have created a program that has raised some eyebrows, but has contributed positively to emergency response: inmate firefighters. The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has partnered with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CDF) and the Los Angeles County Fire Department to oversee more than 4,000 state inmates who fight wildfires in 10 counties.

During this week’s series of wildfire conflagrations in southern California, thousands of inmate firefighters worked side-by side on the firelines with municipal, state and federal fire personnel. Most are determined to repay their debt to society with the hope that their efforts will lead to a brighter future and possibly even an early release. (1)

During this campaign, 2,600 inmates have been deployed, most of whom are seeing action at one the largest blazes – the Harris fire. Some work for as long as 48 hours without a break.

Last year, California’s inmate firefighters worked more than 1 million hours fighting over 200 major fires. Like their professional counterparts, they carry out their duties in difficult and dangerous conditions. Time and time again they have been commended for their hard work, team spirit and fearlessness.

Working the difficult job of fighting fires is not without risk. In 1999 Inmate Firefighter Martin Stiles was working with a camp crew in Azusa, battling the Piru blaze in Ventura County. According to a Department of Corrections report, Stiles and his crewmates were constructing a fire break in the mountainous terrain of the Los Padres National Forest when he fell 150 feet to his death from a steep hillside.

"He was an inmate, but he died a firefighter," former CDC Director "Cal" Terhune said.

Work release programs (common in jails, less so in prisons) are a useful way to help prisoners remain integrated with society, and inmates who are typically bored out of their minds might relish any opportunity to avoid the mundane life that prisons offer.

“It's tempting to wonder whether California allows inmates to do this dangerous work because it attaches little value to their lives,” says T Chris in his blog entitled “The Politics of Crime.” (2)

But Chris adds, “It's reassuring to know that inmates at least receive training in firefighting before they're put to work.”

In California, only minimum custody inmates may participate in the program. To qualify, they must be physically fit and have no history of violent crime including kidnapping, sex offenses, arson or escape. Most have sentences of two years or less, 8 months of which will be spent outside the walls of the prisons in the camps. Both men and women inmates receive an intensive 4 week training course in firefighting and safety techniques.

In Georgia, Inmate Firefighters serve in the community firehouses among the civilian population. To date, 18 fire stations are staffed by inmates, who feel that the work allows them to make amends for their wrongs. Since 2000, they have handled more than 21,000 calls, according to a prison system report issued in August.

Firefighter Juanita Vega, is on the back end of her 10-year sentence for trafficking methamphetamine. Like the others, firefighting is now in her blood.

"I have a passion in my heart for firefighting." she says.

Cobb County Fire Chief Rebecca Denlinger, one of a handful of women in the nation leading a large fire department, said she believes firefighting will be a "life-changing experience" for (inmates) at Allendale Prison. (3)

In California, some say that the motivation for the inmate program appears to be related less to rehabilitation than to a shortage of California firefighters.

“Given the overcrowding in California's prisons,’ say blogger Tchris, ‘The state should consider an early release program for inmate firefighters who prove their value to society -- and communities should commit to hiring them after their release.”

Some released inmates make the transition to full-time firefighters, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) Captain Bryan Lee. Lee, 37, has been fighting fires for 16 years as a civilian and is leading a 13-man inmate team tackling the Harris Fire.

"They're required to work hard, they're expected to work hard, and they do," Lee told a reporter from Agence France-Presse. Lee said he knew of one former inmate firefighter who had gone on to become a captain.

Inmate firefighter John Baxter has just 6 months remaining before his release. Although there’s no discussion regarding his specific offenses, Baxter feels that firefighting provides inmates with a sense of doing good after years of criminal offenses.

“I’m looking forward to returning home,” Baxter said. “These days I wake up in the morning with a sense of purpose.”

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Author’s note:

During a break, I sat with one of the CDC Firefighters who introduced himself as Raymond. We chatted a bit, and during the conversation I asked the 23 year old from Compton whether Inmate Firefighters responded to structural incidents.

“No, we don’t!” Ray answered. “But I bet some of these guys would be great at forcible entry!”

LPA

Sources
(1) Agence France-Presse
(2) “The Politics of Crime” TChris
(3) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Mutual Aid: California Style

By: Lou Angeli

Poway, California (October 24, 2007) – As an East coast firefighter, it’s hard for me to fathom the size and scope of the firefighting operation in southern California. It’s even harder to accept that over 3,000 homes have been destroyed and thousands of others damaged. Hell, when we lose a single row home, we’re down on ourselves for weeks.

The wildfires here are intense, sweeping across tinder dry brush at speeds of 35 mph. Even small “spot” fires, ignited by flying brands, grow so quickly that they consume hundreds of acres in a matter of an hour or so.

The blazes that aren’t threatening homes are allowed to burn. Firefighting resources are better used in areas that officials refer to as the Wildland/Urban Intermix – that beautiful yet unpredictable place where man has chosen to live among the trees and animals.

That’s the dilemma here in San Diego County, and much of California, where homes, businesses, schools and churches blend into the hillsides and canyons. Like the vegetation that serves as the backdrop for these communities, structures are just another source of fuel when Mother Nature arrives in the form of a superfire.

Just East of the Escondido Freeway, Doug Haney, a firefighter assigned to a Central California Task Force, has converted his F-350 pick-up into a fire truck. Two colleagues join him: a 7-year veteran named Beth and a probationary fireman they both simply call “probie.” The trio has just loaded the black plastic pick-up bed with 500 feet of hose and nozzles that they’ve “borrowed” from a Poway fire station. Haney says that there aren’t enough engines or official vehicles to go around.

“We didn’t travel 300 miles to stand here in the parking lotand watch these homes burn,” the 20-year veteran complains as he tucks an axe and halligan under the hose.

Firefighters are resourceful by nature, and these three are no exception. Across the windshield of the blue/gray Ford, they’ve written “Firefighting Vehicle” in white shoe polish. In antcipation of a long day -- and night – they’ve loaded additional gas cans and a cooler filled with bottled water and snacks. Fuel for the truck – fuel for the crew. The makeshift firefighting machine has no pumps, no radios or GPS – just a few basic tools that firefighters have been using for hundreds of years.

As senior man, and the owner of the pick-up, Haney chooses where to respond by looking to the sky. The crew follows dark, black smoke because they’ve been trained to recognize that shade and color as burning hydrocarbons -- the types of things that one might find in homes.

Driving up the winding Bernardo Trails Drive, an area that has been officially evacuated, the crew is amazed to see how many residents have remained behind.

“Not enough firefighters – not enough cops!” Haney chomps from behind his unlit cigar.

As they ascend the two lane rural road, the smoke begins to thicken and visibility decreases significantly. Haney drops his speed from 50 mph to a safer rate of 20. The two other firefighters relax their tight grip on the dash. The probie touches the button to lower the passenger side window only to be greeted with a dose of 110-degree air.

"That's why we call him proble!" Beth jokes.

A few clicks down the road the rag tag engine company encounters an OES Strike Force whose members are taking a brutal beating. They are working to hold back a wall of flames that is rapidly moving toward a sub-division of high value homes. In a minute or so, the team leader will be forced to make a decision that is contrary to a firefighter's mindest -- and that is to abandon the position.

Haney edges slowly past a Class-3, wildland pumper as a red-helmeted Captain motions for the crew to proceed. Haney quickly sizes-up the situation and decides to make a stand on the downwind side of the sub-division. Not that downwind actually exists during a Santa Ana blow.

Firebrands rain down on the properties, igniting shrubs and fences, which generate enough radiant heat to light up the wooden siding. The flames quickly snake their way upward to the wood shake shingles where the wind-whipped fire instantly torches roofs -- then consumes the entire home from the top down.

The trio scan both sides of the lane for a viable structure – a house with limited exposed wood.
Beth points out a stone and stucco house covered by a terra cotta roof. Haney nods and guides the truck into the driveway. Even though the flames are marching up the canyon behind the home, the senior firefighter feels confident.

“I think we can make a save here,” Haney shouts over the roar. “Let’s just hope the hydrants don’t come up dry.”

With his cigar safely tucked away in the “firetruck,” Doug Haney dons his helmet, pulls down a yellow Nomex collar that wraps his face, and lowers his goggles to cover his irritated eyes. The others follow suit.

The probie grabs a hydrant wrench and the female end of the inch and a half, then hustles to a hydrant across the lane. With drill-like accuracy, he connects the hose and spins open the valve. In less than 30 seconds Haney is aiming the water stream toward burning shrubbery and trees behind the home. Beth is flowing a second line that she directs toward the home, hosing down anything that might surrender to the radiant heat. And it’s hot -- so hot that you can bake a potato in your jacket pocket.

Using a spade from the garden shed, the probie races around the home creating mini firebreaks, separating burning fuels from the structure itself. Along the way, he positions a garden hose between two decorative stones, locks it to the “on” position and aims the piddle stream at the wooden front door.

There’s no pump to maintain the nozzle's needed water pressure of 75 psi, so the two hosemen do the best with what they’ve got. Using only hydrant pressure, Haney and his female colleague must position themselves physically closer to the fire in order for their water streams to be effective.

Since exiting the air conditioned truck, the body core temperature of these firefighters has risen from normal – to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. So from time to time, Doug and Beth turn their hoses on one another to cool the super-heated air, which easily penetrates their lightweight, wildland firefighting gear.

In less than the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, the ordeal is over. The wildfire has moved through the neighborhood consuming everything in its path – that is with the exception of the two-story gray stone at the end of the cul-de-sac off Bernardo Trails Drive.

“Imagine what we could have done with a real fire truck.” Beth announces to no one in particular.

The probie reaches into the cooler only to find that the bottled water is warm, and the ice melted. He slips the plastic bottles in Doug and Beth's butt pockets, as they "mop up"– cooling down hotspots that may rekindle. The ground is still extremely hot, and you can feel it through insulated leather boots.

The same scenario is being played out by other firefighting teams working in dozens of communities throughout San Diego County. But what took place here, off Bernardo Trails Drive, is a testimony to the bravery and dedication of three California firefighters, working hundreds of miles from their first alarm district in the true spirit of mutual aid.

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Wildfires: Additional Firefighting Resources Needed

by: Lou Angeli

San Diego County, CA (October 24, 2007) -- While fire crews late Tuesday began to control some fires in Los Angeles county, officials in San Diego were concerned that the fires could march toward more populated areas along the Pacific Ocean.

A shift in the prevailing winds in the area late Tuesday, from the fierce but predictable Santa Ana winds, to more volatile western ones, also plagued firefighters.

The LA Times reports that by late Tuesday, the blazes had burned 420,424 acres -- about 656 square miles -- and destroyed 1,155 homes, making these incidents nearly as large as the fires in October 2003 that are considered the largest in California history.

CNN is reporting that nearly 1 million have been evacuated or displaced.

The blazes have killed six and injured at least 70 more. Thirty-four firefighters have been hurt, authorities said. Two firefighters were in critical condition, including a woman firefighter who had been burned severly and was placed in a medically induced coma.

San Diego Fire Department Battalion Chief Bruce Cartelli described scenes of "utter devastation" with hundreds of homes lost and "many hundreds" of others damaged.

“It's probably the worst significant event in my career of 36 years," Cartelli said.

"It will not end ... until it reaches the ocean or the winds turn around." (1)


In many areas, firefighters were no match for speeding flames and sought refuge in aluminum fire shelters or retreated in the face of burning hillsides. Strong winds made attacks from the air difficult.

The winds are so fierce that flames simply leap over firebreaks created by dozer crews. At one hot spot near Pamona, the fire hurdled an eight-lane interstate where firefighters had staged for a defensive stand.

“This is absolute bullshit” said one San Diego County municipal firefighter. “Had we been given air support earlier, many of the fires could have stopped dead in their tracks.”

A senior fire official agreed. "If we had more air resources, we would have been able to control this fire," said a frustrated Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather. "Instead we've been stuck in this initial attack mode on the ground where we hopscotch through neighborhoods as best we can trying to control things." (2)

The head of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection dismissed Prather’s claims. Ruben Grijalva said the fires, spread by winds that at times topped 100 mph, would have overwhelmed most efforts to fight them.

“We have 90 aircraft here,” Governor Schwarzenegger told ABC News. “And they can't fly because of the wind situation." (3)

Immediate Need: Additional Firefighters

Governor Schwarzenegger ordered the state’s corrections department to deploy more than 2,640 trained inmate firefighters to the southern California wildfires. The inmate strike teams’ deployments are being coordinated through the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The OES is also coordinating the movement of strike teams from central and northern California. Each strike team is comprised of 15 firefighters, from various municipal departments, under the command of a Team Leader. The teams respond aboard OES engines that are placed strategically throughout the state.

Just last week, CalFire laid off it seasonal firefighting force of 1,400 employees. Those who are still available are being called back on a unit-to-unit basis.


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Sources:
(1) CNN.com
(2) Los Angeles Times
(3) KGTV 10News.com

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