California welcomes Nevada’s inmate firefighters

Monday, Nov. 1, 1999 | 3:29 a.m.

After months of fighting 1.5 million acres of Nevada wildland fires, the 170 prison honor camp inmates and 40 teen-agers from the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko were up to the task in neighboring California.

"The benefits they give the state are unbelievable," Ronan Thornhill of the Nevada Forestry Division said of the orange-clad, $1-per-hour convict crew members. "The state couldn't pay for firefighters of this caliber."

Unlike the low-paid inmate firefighters, Thornhill said, nonprison firefighters average $15 per hour and get time and a half for overtime. On the California fires, Nevada inmates worked 24 hours straight, followed by 24 hours rest. They returned Oct. 24.

"We have never had a problem with inmates while they are fighting fires," he said. "None of them ever have walked away."

The job is hazardous, but inmate firefighters get the same training as any wildland firefighters. Since the creation of the honor camps in 1957, no inmate has been killed in a fire.

Prisons Director Bob Bayer has high praise for the inmate firefighters. During the August peak of fire season in eastern Nevada, more than 1,000 inmates were on the lines. Crews included women firefighters from the Silver Springs camp.

"They risk their lives during fire season," he said. "They provide a valuable service."

State Forester Roy Trenoweth said just a few unarmed prison guards accompanied the inmates on their journey to fight California fires.

"Usually there is no problem with inmates on fire," Trenoweth said. "I think they get caught up in helping. Their adrenaline is pumping."

While their good deeds have been noticed, some inmate firefighters are exasperated by their pay. They note that inmates who work in Prison Industries' programs get minimum wages, while they must make do with a $1 an hour.

"We don't want to sound like we are whining," said Kurt Johnson, an inmate firefighter from the Pioche Conservation Camp. "I really screwed up. That's why I'm here."

But Johnson and his friend, inmate firefighter Michael Drey, question why they make such low pay while inmates who restore cars at prison shops or milk cows on a prison farm get minimum wages.

And the honor camp firefighters work side-by-side with teen-agers from the Elko reformatory. The young Elko men, minimum age 16, get pay that exceeds minimum wage.

Convicted of a handgun offense in Las Vegas last year, Johnson hopes for parole in February.

"We are thinking more of future inmates," he said. "By the time anything happens we will be gone. Fires are something we look forward to, even if we are risking our lives. But the wages are ridiculous. Cigarettes are $3 a pack. It would be great to make more."

Bayer can understand their gripes. If the Division of Forestry paid more for fighting fires, then he would pay the inmates more.

The pay is set by the state Prisons Board, chaired by Guinn. The $1 per hour wage has been the going rate for more than a decade.

"It is a budget issue for the Division of Forestry," Bayer said. "Pay isn't the only benefit they receive."

For each month they spend doing honor camp work, inmates receive 20 days off their sentences. Inmates who perform exemplary service on fire lines also receive an extra 90 days off their sentence.