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Inmate Firefighters Battling LA Fires Have Trouble Getting Firefighting Jobs After Release

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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. 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)

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, January 15, 2025…

  • Of the army of firefighters trying to contain the blazes in the Los Angeles area, 1000 are  incarcerated individuals hacking out fireline with hand tools in rugged terrain. Despite the experience they gain from this work, they face an uphill battle getting hired as firefighters after their release. 
  • Thousands of families looking for stability after the Los Angeles fires are suddenly confronting another crisis. L.A.’s lack of affordable housing.

Many Inmate Firefighters Still Not In Line For Good Jobs

More than 1,000 incarcerated people are among the personnel helping fight the historic, and destructive, Southern California wildfires. The raging wildfires have destroyed homes, businesses and landmarks throughout Los Angeles.

California’s department of corrections says individuals who are part of this program are there voluntarily and are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, with additional pay provided during emergencies and in other circumstances.

Royal Ramey runs a non-profit called the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program. He says it’s especially difficult to get municipal firefighting jobs once inmates are released. “They require you to have an EMT, and obviously they have a background check, all that type of stuff. So it’s really difficult to get into that arena,” Ramey said.  

In 2020 Governor Gavin Newsom passed legislation to try to ease some of those barriers. AB 2147 allows nonviolent offenders who fought fires with prison crews to get their records cleared. And there’s a move to make the record-clearing process more automatic.

LA Fire Victims Are Thrust Into Unforgiving Rental Housing Market

While thousands of families search for stability after losing their homes in the past week’s historic Los Angeles fires, many are suddenly confronting another crisis: the region’s long-standing shortage of affordable rental housing.

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Now, that shortage has become much worse.

“Every time I call somebody about a listing, I break into tears,” said Tina Poppy. Her Altadena house, purchased in 2019, was destroyed in the Eaton Fire. Poppy said her family had just finished extensively renovating it into their dream home. Poppy said she, her husband, two kids and three dogs are temporarily staying at a home offered by a member of a local moms group on Facebook. But the family’s search for longer-term housing is turning up listings with fewer bedrooms, worse amenities and asking rents far in excess of her family’s previous mortgage payment.

“There’s not much available for rent, and what is available is just disappearing immediately, and there’s a lot of price gouging,” Poppy said. “It’s so hard to believe that I’m fighting tooth and nail to get this house that I don’t want.”

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