Inside the inmate firefighting crews that helped save Sonoma
Kirk Brown, 35, has been working Sonoma's Tubbs and Atlas fires for the past 29 days, fighting the most destructive blazes he's ever seen.
His crew was still hard at work this week. Out in the pouring rain, they are clearing fallen trees and burned undergrowth along Lovall Valley Road so that residents can safely get to and from their houses.
But if you want to stop by and thank him for helping save Sonoma Valley, you'll need to get permission first from the California Department of Corrections.
Brown is currently serving a 16-month sentence for possession of a firearm.
Orange-clad inmates make up 35 to 40 percent of Cal Fire, the state's firefighting force.
Last month, in addition to the thousands of mutual aid crews that came to defend the Valley, 1,500 of the firefighters were inmates from minimum security 'conservation camps' run by the California Department of Corrections.
'The inmates are overseen by the Corrections Department while they are in the camps, and by CalFire when they leave camp,' said Correction Department spokesperson Bill Sessa.
'In the Nuns fire, the inmate crews were an indispensable resource in protecting the structures and ultimately controlling the fire,' said Sonoma Valley Fire Battalion Chief Bob Norrbom.
The inmates stand out. They wear orange fire-resistant suits and do specific work, primarily cutting containment lines and clearing brush to keep a wildfire within boundaries.
David Cook, of Cook Vineyard Management, manages the 80-acre Pagani Ranch Vineyard, just south of Kenwood, and he says that the property's 110-year-old vines were saved by a crew of inmates.
'The fire was raging down the back side of the hill from the Warm Springs area and they created a fire line that saved the vineyard,' said Cook, who also serves as a member of the Sonoma City Council. 'One of the Paganis, who works for me, was evacuating a relative from the property when he saw the inmates arrive. He said he started crying when he saw them coming down over the hill to their rescue.'
Some homeowners whose houses they helped save dubbed the inmates 'angels in orange.'
'There just weren't enough resources available during the height of these fires,' added Cook. 'If it hadn't been for those inmates, the vineyard would have been wiped out. We are just so appreciative that they were there to help.'
Thirty California prison camps were assigned to the Sonoma/Napa fires, including one all-female crew from Southern California.
The unique program dates back 100 years and began with prisoners assigned to work road crews. During World War II, the predecessor agency to Cal Fire was short on workers and the idea was hatched to have inmates occupy 'temporary camps' to augment the regular firefighting forces.
Only minimum- custody inmates are eligible to volunteer for the fire-fighting camps and they need to earn the right to participate through good behavior. If an inmate is in jail for sexual offenses, arson and or they have any history of escape, they can't participate.
The inmates earn $2 a day while in the camps and $1 an hour when out battling fires. While the low wage appalls many, it's the highest pay an inmate can receive for work while incarcerated. 'This program is a beautiful thing,' said Kirk Brown, when interviewed this week in the pouring rain on the side of the road. 'It gives us a chance to give back to the community and we can get time knocked off our sentence.'
He had never heard of the program when he entered prison.
'I've never done anything like this before in my life,' he said with a laugh.
Today, he is the leader – the 'swamper' – of his crew.
'Kirk's a real father figure to the other guys,' said a sergeant overseeing the crew.
In an average year, the program provides approximately 3 million firefighting hours, which saves taxpayers approximately $100 million.
A typical firefighting inmate camp houses 60 to 70 prisoners, who are divided into four or five crews. In total, around 3,800 inmates participate in the program, and there are 220 California firefighting crews in all.
They're called conservation camps because, when not fighting fires, the inmates spend their days maintaining hiking trails, restoring historical structures, maintaining parks and flood protection, reforesting and clearing fallen trees and debris.
'The camps are literally what the word implies,' said CDCR spokesman Bill Sessa. 'In most cases they are strategically placed in rural areas near where fires might break out.' The first inmate camp to show up in Sonoma Valley was from Konocti, near Clear Lake.
Prisoners in the camps live there year-round in dorms with minimum security, boundaries, but no electric fences, said Sessa.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: