Foreman Mihlhauser (left) works with Acton Conservation Camp Crew 11-1, an incarcerated fire team, to fell burned trees in Altadena, California, on Jan. 10, 2025, after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of the area. The Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operate the camp to train incarcerated hand crews to fight fires around Los Angeles and California. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Among the army of firefighters trying to contain the blazes in the Los Angeles area are over 1,000 incarcerated individuals hacking out fire lines with hand tools in rugged terrain for just dollars a day.
Despite the experience they gain, those who want to be hired as firefighters after their release will face an uphill battle. Now, lawmakers are considering legislation to make it easier for them to have their records cleared, smoothing their path to firefighting work.
Eddie Herrera Jr. served 18 years in state and county correctional facilities. After demonstrating good behavior, he was allowed to work as a firefighter.
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One day, he was called to the burning home of a correctional officer from the prison where he was housed.
“We saved it,” Herrera said. “And I just remember them coming and shaking our hands afterwards. And I was like, ‘Whoa, this is surreal.’”
A member of Acton Conservation Camp Crew 11-1, an incarcerated fire team, works to fell burned trees in Altadena, California, on Jan. 10, 2025, after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of the area. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Herrera, who worked on a county crew, said his top pay was $56 a month. Wildland firefighters make between $5.80 and $10.24 per day from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, plus $1 an hour from Cal Fire while working active emergencies like the current Los Angeles fires.
Many of them say the experience alone is worth it.
“I didn’t even do it for the money,” said Herrera. “Because at the end of the day, giving back to the community, knowing you’re providing a service … you can’t put a price on that.”
However, those who wish to continue the work after their release often find that their criminal record poses a major obstacle.
Royal Ramey, who co-founded the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program to help people through the process, said it’s especially difficult to get municipal firefighting jobs like the one Herrera trained in.
Those jobs require EMT certification. That’s a particular hurdle because California law prohibits people with felony convictions from getting certified, effectively blocking many formerly incarcerated firefighters from jobs at county or city fire stations — jobs that tend to provide good benefits.
Members of Acton Conservation Camp Crew 11-1, an incarcerated fire team, work to fell burned trees in Altadena, California, on Jan. 10, 2025, after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of the area. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
To try to ease some of those barriers, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147 in 2020. It allows nonviolent offenders who fought fires with prison crews to petition to get their records expunged.
But it’s not a sure thing, said Ramey.
“They are eligible for expungement, but it’s up to the judge’s discretion. So it all depends on the situation, the crime, how long they’ve been out, have they been rehabilitated, what have they been doing since they’ve been home.”
Esteban Núñez, a member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, has been communicating with state Sen. Eloise Reyes (D–San Bernardino) and Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office about follow-up legislation to AB 2147 to simplify and expedite the record-clearing process.
The idea is to have CDCR automatically provide the attorney general’s office with a record showing that a person has completed the fire camp program and then notify the person of their eligibility for having their record expunged.
“It would make it so that the responsibility doesn’t solely fall on the individual to have to file and either seek out a public defender or an attorney to help them file,” Núñez said.
A judge would still have the final say in whether to grant the expungement petition.
Núñez expects the new bill to be introduced within the next month.
Helping more formerly incarcerated firefighters enter the workforce could be a boon for California, whose need for firefighters is only expected to grow as wildfires become bigger and more common with the effects of human-caused climate change. The Nature Conservancy estimates that the state will face a labor shortage of close to 10,000 forestry workers by 2028.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Newsom granted early release to some incarcerated firefighters, and he has scaled back the CDCR fire crew program while building up the civilian California Conservation Corps for young adults.
Scott McLean, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said he’s noticed the reduction in the state’s use of incarcerated fire crews.
“There are fewer crews,” he said. “But we fill that void with our seasonal firefighter hand crews as well as [having] the CCC on board.”
For those who are released, the new legislation being considered by state officials would make it easier for them to help fill that shortage — and continue their rehabilitation in the process, Núñez said.
“There’s no better way to demonstrate restorative justice,” he said, “than to have folks who have previously harmed their communities really go out to preserve and protect other communities.”
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