It can be overwhelming to consider all of the facts regarding fire season in the American West. There are currently dozens of fires in the United States. The Bootleg Fire is the largest, and it has now reached Los Angeles. No matter where you are, you can feel the effects. Jaime Lowe lives in New York. Smoke has travelled from Oregon and California to New York. Lowe stated that he could see the effects of smoke on the air yesterday as he walked around. It felt like we were in an apocalyptic science fiction world, with the sun being orange and muted.AdvertisementLowe is a journalist and a native Californian. Lowe is a fire expert. Lowe stated that she knows so much about the state that it is almost like Chicken Little running around saying, "Everybody get out but everyone stays because it's great."AdvertisementAdvertisementLowe is conflicted by the way her state handles this climate crisis. This is due to the fact that the state annually recruits firefighters to fight the fires. There are the union men, and the Hotshot crews who patrol the actual flames. There are also incarcerated firefighters. Convicted felons are paid a small amount to cut fire lines along with the professionals. Lowe did not know these crews existed until she was reading the newspaper a few years ago. She saw the headline: Female inmate firefighter dies after an injury in Malibu Blaze. This inmate was Shawna Lynn Jones. She was only 22 years old. Lowe has been writing for five years about California's incarcerated firefighters. Her first story was published in the New York Times Magazine. Breathing Fire is her first book. She was particularly interested in female firefighters.AdvertisementLowe and I talked Monday's episode of What Next about the almost invisible force of women keeping climate change from the rest. This edited conversation has been condensed to make it more concise.Mary Harris: Your research began at Malibu 13, a camp for fire fighters. Shawna, who later died, was there. There are prisoners who live there all year, not just during fire season. They practice constant drills to be ready for any emergency. Malibu 13 continues to be operational as part of California's ongoing emergency response. What can you describe Malibu 13 as? Is this what it is like to be at a fire camp?AdvertisementJaime Lowe: It was exactly how Shawna's mom described it when Shawna visited Shawna. She felt it was a beautiful spiritual retreat, and Shawna felt safe. This was because Shawna kept calling her when she was out of county. She then went to visit Shawna at the camp and saw that it was surrounded by woods and was deep in Malibu's hills. It was located in unpopulated mountains with wineries and horse ranches. This camp is nestled in the middle of all this. There are no fences. Barbed wire is not present. This sign indicates that it is a state prison. The camp is managed by L.A. County Fire and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The CDCR side is where the women sleep, while the CDCR side is where they hike and train.AdvertisementListening to you describe the camp, I understand. I understand why, if I were incarcerated, I would like to spend time there even if that meant fighting fires.AdvertisementYes, it is really, really attractive. This is why it's such a complex topic. You will be able to believe that the wages at prison, $5 per day now, Shawna was there, were $1.50 to $2.50 an hour when they were fighting fire. This is far below the wage earned by civilian workers. Another reason prisoners are trying to get into the program is that you can save money and bring some home with you.AdvertisementAll the women I spoke to felt a sense of responsibility and purpose. They also felt connected to their work in certain ways. They would all agree that they want to be compensated in a fair way, and that they don't feel like prisoners. However, almost all of them had a very special nostalgia for being there. All of them liked being recognized for their willingness to go out and fight fires, and feeling like they could do it.Can you briefly describe the work that these women do? I understand that they are trying to cut down the foliage before they put it on fire.AdvertisementAdvertisementThey are considered a hand crew when they are actually working on active fires. This is very similar to federal wildland teams. They do much of the same work in hotshots, where they are usually part of 12- to 14-person teams.They have chainsaws and other tools, right?Yes, they do. There are four women who lead the team, and two teams consisting of two people. There is one chainsaw, one bucker and then the second chainsaw with her bucker.The bucker is basically used to clean up after the brush has been cut.It's true. The saw will trim all the large growth that is blocking the line. The bucker will throwits in these extremely treacherous mountainous terrain areas, removing all the growth. The goal is to remove all roots and get rid of any vegetation that could be a fire hazard. It is important that the fire doesn't leap the line.AdvertisementIt seems like the conditions the women work in are very harsh.AdvertisementAdvertisementYes. Yes. Their bodies are the property of the state. That was something I understood.What does it mean to say this?A woman in prison must surrender her physicality to the program. They aren't sleeping at all. They work out so hard. Their bodies are being affected by the physical labor they do. Lily, a woman from the Philippines, said to me that I have a bad back for life and can't do certain jobs due to it. She was on fire when I threw up my stomach. It didn't get treated. She is constantly in pain.AdvertisementShawna, the woman who died in your interest, is what you said. How did she die?She was killed in a fire. It was 45 days before her release. They were already out building a containment line in the early morning. I was told by the women present that there was another crew, a male crew, who was incarcerated above them. They weren't supposed to be so close. Some pebbles began to fall, and finally a boulder was found. It was the same size as a basketball. It just fell on her head and struck her directly on the forehead. She was instantly out. Another woman on the crew attempted to perform CPR, but she was eventually airlifted to UCLA Hospital and taken off of life support.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis is Shawna's story and the one thing you know about her. Talk about how Shawna was handcuffed to the gurney when she was brought in from the ICU. She had just minutes earlier had a chainsaw in the handshed and been clearing brush and fighting fires. It struck me that there seemed to be a disconnect between the recognition that California needs firefighters incarcerated and the state's inability to treat them like human beings.I think the state is having trouble treating all prisoners as human beings. This is the point of their system of incarceration, and perhaps of all incarceration. As a society, we need to consider this. California has a large bureaucracy. There is procedure. Even if the woman is not conscious, she must be handcuffed. That detail struck me, too. It was both inhumane, unnecessary, and tragic.AdvertisementPlease give me some background information about the origins of this program for incarcerated firefighters. My understanding is that similar programs are run in other states, but not at the same scale as California.AdvertisementIt was actually during World War II that many men went off to war. California transformed its conservation program into an incarcerated firefighting brigade. Some of the camps were taken over by them. It was hugely successful and it just kept growing. This was 1946.Did the state use these prisoners to save money?It was both an idea and a way to save money. Let's get you working and it will make your time more enjoyable. You will learn something, and you'll be able then to be a better person. This is often aspirational.AdvertisementThey said that they don't keep track of recidivism rates for the fire camp program. This is a clear way of saying that we don't care if it works. We're going to just say it works well.Their metric for work might not have anything to do the women. It's all about the fires.Yes. They certainly point out that this program is a great help for prisoners. Many people have described aspects of the program that they feel help them. Many of the fire captains and foremen spoke about seeing the same women repeatedly. They would escape, they would get in trouble again, be arrested, and then return to camp.AdvertisementAdvertisementYou wanted to expand your initial reporting because you wanted to see the events that occurred after firefighters were released from prison. I was struck by this particular story in your book. Maria is another inmate firefighter who tried to save Shawna that day. You might be able to tell Maria's story.Maria's story is particularly tragic.It seems like Shawna's death haunted Shawna.It seems like she was extremely haunted. That's my opinion. She ended up at the California Institute for Women.For a while, she quit firefighting.Because she was involved in several fights, she was transferred back to CIW. She was very upset. She returned to Puerta La Cruz again for another season, and fell in love. It sounded like she had a beautiful relationship with another camper. They would get together and sneak into each other's bed after the COs went to sleep. The two of them eventually got married the day the COs released the other woman.AdvertisementBoth her and her wife were firefighters during their time in prison. They eventually got out, and they both tried to get jobs for firefighters.AdvertisementAdvertisementYes. They applied for wildland firefighters. I'm not sure what happened. However, they completed the application process. After that they didn't hear back from me and they didnt receive any follow-up. It's not an easy process. You can't apply to Cal Fire and municipal departments.California prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from applying for EMS certification for at least 10 year. This means that federal firefighters have a very narrow path to employment, which many women find difficult.AdvertisementYou can now imagine yourself in the shoes of these women. They were sent to prison and, while there, risked their lives in order to learn a valuable skill. After they were released, there was no job.It is possible. It is just very, very difficult and there doesn't seem to be much support for connecting people who want to continue the work. Maria was the first to leave. Maria and her spouse applied to become firefighters, but it didn't work. They both gave up and quit trying again.AdvertisementThey seemed to reverse.They did. They fell behind. Maria ended up in prison again, and her wife was back in jail. Maria was calling her and trying to keep in touch for a while, but eventually lost touch with Maria. She was not doing well. Then, late last year, she became really, really ill and died from what appeared like COVID.AdvertisementWhat is so difficult about Shawna's and Marias stories is that you can see in the one how hard it is to be a firefighter and how high the stakes can be. On the other hand, the reward seems so small. The work is rewarding for women, and they love it. But the rest of the world doesn't get it.Yes, I agree that they should be paid and treated as free individuals. However, this needs to be clarified. You can choose to live in a halfway home and work at Target and Walmart. The state government should follow this pattern, I don't see why.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCalifornia made small steps last year to recognize the efforts of incarcerated firefighters. Governor. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that made it easier for firefighters who have been previously incarcerated to find work once they are released. Can you tell us what the law is and if it works?A.B. 2147 is used to expedite the expungement of a record. This expedites the expungement process. I will file an expedited expungement to meet my immediate need to be released from prison. I can then apply for EMT or EMS training and can then be hired by Cal Fire or a municipality crew.If I understand correctly, the law is merely a guideline for the first step. It doesn't provide a pathway to employment.Not only does expungement not remove the appearance of criminal records, it also doesn't stop employers from conducting a search. Cal Fire and municipal crews have a reputation for being very discriminatory in hiring practices. Criminal records will still be visible. These agencies must have the support of their employees. There is no oversight of this. That is why there is no insurance.I hope that the camps are transformed into the California Conservation Corps. Also, that when you're sentenced, you have the option to become a state employee, receive minimum wage, train to be a firefighter and then have a program with social services and addiction meetings. You can then transfer all that, the positive aspects of the program into jobs if that's what you want.It sounds incredible, but is it really possible?Yes. Yes. It seems like mass incarceration makes it difficult to deal with any kind of change. However, I think this program is very interesting and could be helpful in certain ways if certain elements were changed.Subscribe to the What Next Apple PodcastsEvery weekday, Mary Harris brings you more news.
