{"id":2167,"date":"2020-12-14T16:23:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139117"},"modified":"2020-12-14T16:23:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:23:41","slug":"he-helps-former-inmates-find-firefighting-jobs-and-defend-california-against-climate-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/14\/he-helps-former-inmates-find-firefighting-jobs-and-defend-california-against-climate-disasters\/","title":{"rendered":"He helps former inmates find firefighting jobs \u2014 and defend California against climate disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"
Brandon Smith<\/strong> remembers his first wildfire vividly as something out of the Avengers<\/em>. He was on a crew combating one of the many blazes that scorched California in 2012. Adrenaline pumping, he toiled alongside professional firefighters for 20 hours. The only difference between them? When they finally contained the fire, they would return home and he would return to prison.<\/p>\n California relies heavily on inmates to fight the nightmarish fires that occur with increasing frequency as the world grows ever hotter. Despite years of experience \u2014 which the state desperately needs as it calls on<\/a> other states for help \u2014 many of the 1,800 or so inmates<\/a> working in prison fire camps find it all but impossible to pursue careers after completing their sentences. State law<\/a> bars those with felony convictions from earning the emergency medical technician certification many municipal fire departments require. (Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation<\/a> making things a little easier for those who are currently and formerly incarcerated.)<\/p>\n Smith discovered that firefighting was his calling while working on the front lines at Bautista Conservation Camp, one of the facilities that houses inmate firefighters. He was among the thousands<\/a> of inmates in dozens of such camps. They\u2019re all volunteers, and the rules allow only those with low-level convictions to serve. They work long hours for just $2 to $5 each day (yep, you read that right) fighting fires, thinning forests, maintaining parks, and performing other tasks.<\/p>\n By the time he was released in 2014, Smith had spent two years on a crew. Even so, it took him a year and a half to find steady work doing what he loved. It wasn\u2019t until then-Governor Jerry Brown declared<\/a> a state of emergency as fires ravaged 15 counties that Betty Ashe, a U.S. Forest Service battalion chief, hired Smith for a temporary gig in 2015.<\/p>\n Smith was battling one of those fires when he heard someone call his name. He looked around to discover that he was working alongside the same crew he\u2019d been incarcerated with some 18 months earlier. While chatting over dinner, he realized that many of them wouldn\u2019t have the resources they\u2019d need to have a chance at a professional career. He and friend Royal Ramey \u2014 who had followed a similar trajectory to firefighting \u2014 decided to remedy that.<\/p>\n