Inmates play major role in fire fight (Wow-25% of fire fighters)

[underpants]

Source: Yahoo/AP

LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - They've stolen cars, used drugs and forged checks. When California is burning, they fight fires.
ADVERTISEMENT

About a quarter of the 14,000 firefighters defending homes and businesses in Southern California from wildfires have been prisoners, officials said. Of the 4,400 inmates trained to battle fires in the state, 3,091 were on the front lines Friday from Lake Arrowhead south to San Diego.



Not every inmate qualifies to be a firefighter. Those who do — male or female — must be physically fit, have no history of violent crime and have four to 36 months remaining on their sentences, Unger said.

Once chosen, inmates undergo a four-week program that includes training in fire safety and suppression. The program has been in existence since the 1940s and makes inmates available for other natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071028/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires_inmates;_ylt=Al2IdyOun5TJA9VjBjH.TwhvzwcF

[Cobalt Violet]

1. I hope they can get out of prison now.

Since they have "no history of violent crime".

[daninthemoon]

4. Unfortunatley, a huge number of prisoners are non-violent, at

least before they're sent to prison. That's something we can thank George I for. As for these firefighters, I would hope that they at least get a big reduction in sentence for such selfless bravery and immeasurable community service.

[funkybutt]

2. Great idea

Inmates who are willing to train and work are a valuable asset.

[liberation]

3. It also tells a lot about a society that can not find enough volunteer fire fighters...

I guess inmates are the new "slaves"

[funkybutt]

6. I think it's optional

If I were incarcerated, I'd jump at an opportunity like this. This firefighting experience could be something to use on their resume (if firefighters are allowed to have criminal pasts)

This isn't a chain gang, although I bet they were worked very hard. I'm not opposed to using a workforce of willing prisoners for important work like this.

[olddad56]

9. it isn't optional...

it is a privilege. You have to be a non violent prisoner with a clean record while incarcerated . You have to attend a training camp and pass a physical qualification exam that is fairly strenuous. Then if you make it, you get to work your ass off, and get placed in dangerous places. You don't get treated like a regular firefighter. I have a friend who did that while incarcerated for probation violation (junkie). He had to compete against a much younger group of inmates and told me that was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

[flashl]

20. Trustee inmates in the South have replaced many city workers. n/t

[jaysunb]

5. This does not get them any more time off

than the normal 50% here in California. But they do get to live outside the prison walls or fences in remote areas where the food is much better and the rules in general are not as strident....It's called "fire camps."
Young,healthy non violent inmates really try hard to land this assignment as it's considered the cream of the crop as far as prison jobs go. ( I think it pays like $2 a day, which beats the shit out of the .11 to.30 those on the inside make.)

Hey Underpants ! I haven't seen you around for a while. Hope you're well. :hi:

[Brrrp]

8. Did you read the story?

It says that (1) "inmates earn two days of credit toward completing their sentences for every day they spend on fire lines" and (2) "inmates earn $1 an hour."

[jaysunb]

19. That's not the case...

trust me, it's EXACTLY what I said it was. :evilfrown:

[underpants]

12. Thanks

new job so I had to temper down the DU'ing...at least for a while.

:hi:

[WhiteTara]

7. Our new National Guard

:eyes:

[Exultant Democracy]

10. So only people who probably shouldn't be locked up in the first place can fight fires.

[truedelphi]

16. Pretty much.

Forge a check because you can't find work but you still need to eat,
you go to Jail.

Outsource tens of thousands of jobs so that you can avoid employing "high" wage demanding Americans - and live in luxury.

Things don't add up much these days.

It also shows that perhaps if we had a recruitment drive to help people obtain jobs by utilizing apprenticeship programs, some of this could be prevented.

I've read at least one magazine article by a woman inmate who was allowed to fight fires - she was very enthused about the work and once they released her, she became a firefighter.

But it wasn't until AFTER she was in jail that she was offered such an assignment.

[Exultant Democracy]

18. heartbreaking n/t

[rustydad]

11. Utterly wrong

Con (convict) crews as they are called are not firefighters per se. They are trained to cut line, mostly with hand tools. They come in after a fire has burned and cut a line around the blackened earth. They rarely see active fire, never protect structures. They swing hoes and shovels, never hoses and water. The mop up after the fire has burned. Yes they work cheap and it is a shame so many are in jail for non violent crimes. But firefighters they are not. Bob

[truedelphi]

17. I think this past week, such people might have seen fire

Those fires were propelled by Santa Ana winds (80 to 100mph) and really were trucking.

People who thought that their community was a "comfortable" twenty or thirty miles from danger found out that that distance meant nothing - given the high winds.

[flashl]

21. In Mississipi and Alabama there have been several stories about inmate firefighter mishaps

Mississippi Prison Inmate Dies Fighting House Fire, Another Injured

A state penitentiary inmate died yesterday while helping fight a house fire off Mississippi Highway 32 in Sunflower County.

County Coroner Doug Card says 40 year old Michael Davenport was serving a life sentence for murder from Hinds County.

Davenport was a member of the Mississippi State Penitentiary's inmate volunteer fire department.

Card said an autopsy has been ordered but Davenport apparently died of smoke inhalation.

He said the inmate died while inside the home.

Card said the residence was about two miles from the gate of the Parchman prison, but he did not know who owned the home.

All occupants of the home were able to escape safely.

Card said another inmate, 47-year-old Gary Lambert, broke a leg after falling off a ladder while fighting the fire.

Lambert is serving a life sentence for murder handed down in 1983 in Covington County.

He was treated at Sunflower County Hospital.
__________________

http://www.wrenfiredepartment.4t.com/

[Javaman]

23. Well, having been a firefighter and having worked overhaul, which is what you are describing...

it's a very important job regardless of what you think.

It keeps new fires from starting. It's a very dangerous job. I speak from experience having been caught in a few flash overs myself.

[TomInTib]

13. That program turned one of our employees' life around.

He is so proud of his service here in NorCal.

I truly believe it was the only positive experience that he had ever had, up to that point.

[the other one]

14. Prisoners: A great source of cheap labor!

Kinda makes the drug war worth while. Maybe we can just farm prisoners out to all types of business. Its a win/win. Corporations get cheap labor, and americans get to actually have jobs instead of seeing them all shipped overseas.

[underpants]

15. Well well well I see here that you were convicted of a crime

so we don't have to pay you as much

The point of this story that I got is that "convicts" aren't the faceless soulless beings that we are led to believe they are.

[flashl]

22. Already done.

In some cases, prisons are more like factories behind fences.