Fighting Wildfires for $1 an Hour

Romarilyn Ralston spoke with Sojourners’ Jenna Barnett about her previous work for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as a clerk and a trainer for other incarcerated wildfire fighters. In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill clearing the path for inmate firefighters to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.

“SINCE WORLD WAR II there have been labor camps in California training incarcerated people to help support Cal Fire on the outside. California has one of the highest fire seasons every year, and it’s getting hotter and hotter because of climate change. So having a workforce of hundreds of well-trained firefighters to cut lines and remove fuel on the sides of mountains for a dollar an hour—it’s a steal. And California saves $100 million a year doing it. On one hand, California is really progressive with our criminal justice reforms, and on the other hand, we’re still so committed to punishment and enslaving, extorting, and treating people inhumanely.

The program helps build character, and it helps build the physical strength of individuals. You’re in a camp setting where you have more access to your family—to your children. It was rewarding, and it was bittersweet. Because the worst thing about the fire camp program is that there’s no avenue that allows these men and women who have this amazing training to have a career, and earn pensions, retirements, and salaries after incarceration. Second, the wages are pathetic. They’re slave wages. And that’s not how you treat a first responder—that’s not how you treat any incarcerated person providing labor for the state.”