Heroes and Inmates: The California Conservation Camp Firefighters
Editor's note: As fires raged in Los Angeles this week, what many Californians didn't know was that they were being fought by a community feared and loathed by many: juvenile and adult prisoners. Michael Kroll, an veteran editor of The Beat Within, offers a closer look at the Conservation Camp program and the positive impact it has both on the fires it fights and the firefighters it employs. The Beat Within facilitates writing workshops in juvenile halls in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., Maricopa County, Arizona, and more, and partners with community organizations and individuals to bring resources to youth both inside and outside of detention.
Californians owe a huge debt to a segment of the population routinely demonized by politicians and the press: its juvenile and adult prisoners.
A little more than 20 years ago, I wrote an article about the California Youth Authority (West Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Feb. 1989). It was a thoroughly depressing exposé, except in one aspect: the Fire Camps. These are camps in the wooded areas of the State where young men and young women are trained to fight fires during the season, and to reduce the fire hazard year-round by clearing brush and other combustible materials from our forests.
What made this the one upbeat feature of my story was the effects it had on these youngsters who were so used to being seen only in the negative light of their past mistakes. “It makes me feel like I have something to contribute,” one boy told me. “It makes me feel responsible.”
Conservation Camps provide the same sense of responsibility and self-worth to adult prisoners. They have been a part of the state’s prison system since 1946. There are 44 adult Conservation Camps run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection jointly manages these fire camps with the CDCR. More than 4400 adult and juvenile inmates participate in the Conservation Camp Program, which operates about 200 fire crews.
This week, the terrible reality of what it means to fight a forest fire was made palpable with the death of two firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which works jointly with the CDCR to manage six Conservation Camps. Fire Captain Tedmund “Ted” Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, supervising about 55 adult prison inmates were killed when their truck plunged off a narrow path. They were searching for a way to protect their inmate firefighters from the raging flames roaring up the hill towards Camp 16.
About half of the more than 100 inmates at the remote camp in the Angeles National Forest had already been successfully evacuated. That left 55 men to face the roaring forest fire in an area inaccessible to most large machines. The prisoners survived the flames huddled inside the camp’s dining hall, while they watched their single-story dormitory burn to the ground.
While the state deals with a financial crisis fueled, in part, by the enormous expenditures the largest prison empire in the country (and, perhaps, the world) requires to operate, few Californians are aware of the tremendous contributions these prisoners make to our state. In an average year, these inmates provide three million hours in firefighting and other emergency operations, saving state taxpayers an average of more than $80 million a year. As of today, more than 2,200 adult and juvenile prisoners are deployed to fight the more than 20 fires burning across the state.
The term “hero” is routinely and appropriately applied to those who stand between us, our property and the fires that leave death and devastation in their wake. It is time we realized that among those heroes are men and women, young and old, who willingly put their lives on the line in defense of the state which imprisons them.
Californians owe a huge debt to a segment of the population routinely demonized by politicians and the press: its juvenile and adult prisoners.
A little more than 20 years ago, I wrote an article about the California Youth Authority (West Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Feb. 1989). It was a thoroughly depressing exposé, except in one aspect: the Fire Camps. These are camps in the wooded areas of the State where young men and young women are trained to fight fires during the season, and to reduce the fire hazard year-round by clearing brush and other combustible materials from our forests.
What made this the one upbeat feature of my story was the effects it had on these youngsters who were so used to being seen only in the negative light of their past mistakes. “It makes me feel like I have something to contribute,” one boy told me. “It makes me feel responsible.”
Conservation Camps provide the same sense of responsibility and self-worth to adult prisoners. They have been a part of the state’s prison system since 1946. There are 44 adult Conservation Camps run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection jointly manages these fire camps with the CDCR. More than 4400 adult and juvenile inmates participate in the Conservation Camp Program, which operates about 200 fire crews.
This week, the terrible reality of what it means to fight a forest fire was made palpable with the death of two firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which works jointly with the CDCR to manage six Conservation Camps. Fire Captain Tedmund “Ted” Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, supervising about 55 adult prison inmates were killed when their truck plunged off a narrow path. They were searching for a way to protect their inmate firefighters from the raging flames roaring up the hill towards Camp 16.
About half of the more than 100 inmates at the remote camp in the Angeles National Forest had already been successfully evacuated. That left 55 men to face the roaring forest fire in an area inaccessible to most large machines. The prisoners survived the flames huddled inside the camp’s dining hall, while they watched their single-story dormitory burn to the ground.
While the state deals with a financial crisis fueled, in part, by the enormous expenditures the largest prison empire in the country (and, perhaps, the world) requires to operate, few Californians are aware of the tremendous contributions these prisoners make to our state. In an average year, these inmates provide three million hours in firefighting and other emergency operations, saving state taxpayers an average of more than $80 million a year. As of today, more than 2,200 adult and juvenile prisoners are deployed to fight the more than 20 fires burning across the state.
The term “hero” is routinely and appropriately applied to those who stand between us, our property and the fires that leave death and devastation in their wake. It is time we realized that among those heroes are men and women, young and old, who willingly put their lives on the line in defense of the state which imprisons them.
Comments