California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2147 into law Friday, allowing nonviolent inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the way for them to become professional firefighters upon release, a career they were previously barred from in many departments.

The move comes during a historic fire season in California, with over 3 million acres of land scorched by hundreds of fires across the state, including the largest fire in state history, the August Complex Fire, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

“CA’s inmate firefighter program is decades-old and has long needed reform,” said Newsom in a Tweet Friday. “Inmates who have stood on the frontlines, battling historic fires should not be denied the right to later become a professional firefighter.”

Under existing law, once released from custody, a former inmate must finish the terms of their parole before applying for expungement of their criminal record, and even after those records have been expunged must disclose their criminal history on applications for state licenses.

Due to the fact that nearly 200 occupations that require licensing from one of 42 California government departments and agencies, these former inmates are almost entirely denied access to these jobs, as approximately 17 percent of the state’s workforce need a professional license to work, according to state officials.

Inmate firefighting camp crews working during the 2018 South Fire in Newhall

Under AB 2147, a person that served as an inmate fire-fighting crewmember would be eligible to apply for expungement upon release from custody, and if the expungement is approved could seek various career pathways including those that require a state license, such as firefighting.

“This bill will give those prisoners hope of getting a job in the profession that they’ve been trained,” said Newsom.

See Related: Inmate Camp Crews: Unsung Heroes Who Fight Santa Clarita Brush Fires

Roughly 2500 inmates from the Conservation Camp program volunteer and train to serve on fire crews to battle fires across the state.  In 2017, 650 inmate hand crews assisted in suppressing the Pocket, Tubbs, and Atlas Fires.  In 2018, close to 800 inmates assisted with the Camp Fire and in 2019 over 400-inmate hand crews assisted with battling the Kincade Fire.

The California Conservation Camp Program was initiated by CDCR to provide able-bodied inmates the opportunity to work on meaningful projects throughout the state. Those projects can include clearing firebreaks, restoring historical structures, maintaining parks, sandbagging and flood protection, reforestation and clearing fallen trees and debris.

Assemblymember Eloise Reyes, D-San Bernardino, the author of AB 2147, wished to highlight the inmates decision to make “a tremendous sacrifice of personal safety, to volunteer to fight these deadly fires to keep our families, our homes, our wildlife, and our forests safe, while simultaneously reducing the impact of damages on our economy.”

“However, even with their sacrifices, their training, their dedication and their low-level risk status, many who participate in the fire camps continue to struggle to find permanent and stable employment once released,” said Reyes in a May statement. “This is due to the significant barriers that have historically been placed on formerly incarcerated individuals, hindering their ability to seek and acquire employment or even the education necessary to start a career and contribute to society.”

Inmate firefighters setting out to fight the 2019 Borton Fire in Val Verde. Photo by David Melnarik/KHTS News.

There are 43 conservation camps for adult offenders and one camp for juvenile offenders. The conservation camps make up approximately 219 fire-fighting crews and are jointly managed by CDCR and CalFire, officials said.

Several counties across the state, including Los Angeles and San Bernardino, operate inmate fire training academies for county jail inmates utilizing several hundred jail inmates.

In Los Angeles County, male inmates who want to participate in the fire camps are sent to the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, where they train under the direct supervision of custodial personnel assigned to the Fire Camp Training Unit.

Female inmates who want to participate in fire camps are sent to the California Institution for Women in Chino for their physical fitness conditioning and wildland firefighter training, according to officials.

These inmates from the county jails play a large role in containing fires, said William Strait, a custody assistant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic in a previous story.

All inmates participating must earn the right to work in a fire camp by non-violent behavior and conformance to rules while they are incarcerated. Only minimum-custody inmates who have been sentenced to jail time on “non-serious, nonviolent or nonsexual crimes” are eligible to be part of the fire camps, officials said.

“Most of our inmates have drug possession, drug sales or identity theft, things of that nature, for their charges,” Strait said.

Inmate firefighters from the Pitchess Detention Center during the 2020 Elsmere Fire in Newhall. Devon Miller/KHTS News

After the inmates have served their sentence in the county jail system, they are able to get jobs with CalFire and the U.S. Fire Service, according to officials.

One of the battalion chiefs for the U.S. Forest Service was once an inmate firefighter who is now in charge of the department, Strait said.

Not only is the fire camp an opportunity for the inmates to help society and have their sentence shortened, but those training the inmates also take pride in what they do.

“If I could help these guys with guidance and training so they don’t have to come do this again, then I’m happy with what I am doing,” Strait said.

In an average year, the Conservation Camp Program provides approximately three million person-hours responding to fires and other emergencies and seven million person-hours in community service projects, saving California taxpayers approximately $100 million annually, according to officials.

“Despite their low-level risk status, dedication and willingness to put themselves in harm’s way, many who participated in these programs struggle to find permanent and stable employment once released,” read an official statement from Reyes’ office. “This is in part due to significant barriers in place for individuals with a prior conviction, to seek employment or even the education necessary to start a career.”

According to state officials, the intent of AB 2147 is to provide an expedited expungement process in which an inmate who has participated in the California Conservation Camp Program as an inmate firefighter can begin their expungement process as soon as they have served their time.

This individual may also be eligible for early termination of parole, if the court deems that the defendant has not violated any terms or conditions of probation or parole prior to, and during the petition for relief, officials said.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.