Incarcerated firefighters could soon join LA County Fire Department after they're released

The L.A. County Fire Department will soon have a new pipeline for formerly imprisoned firefighters to join its ranks.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a motion that will establish intern positions and other entry level roles within the department, alongside a broader training program. Formerly incarcerated people with wildland firefighting experience would be able to apply.

While California has tapped incarcerated people to fight fires since World War II, they’ve gained more attention in recent years because of the volunteers’ low pay and hiring barriers after release. More than 900 incarcerated firefighters stepped up to battle the L.A. blazes in January.

“They put their lives on the line for the safety of others, yet when released, they face systemic barriers to employment — even in the very field where they’ve already proven themselves,” said Supervisor Hilda Solis, who authored the motion.

How a record impacts hiring

Getting consistent work has long been a challenge for people with a criminal background, let alone a firefighting career. Fire camps allow people with firefighting experience to get the required training and certifications after release, but jobs aren’t guaranteed.

“ We saw many of them help fight the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires earlier this year, but I didn’t realize that once they graduate, they’re often ineligible to be hired by our L.A. County Fire Department because they are formerly incarcerated,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, a co-author of the motion.

Hiring barriers are something Eduardo Herrera Jr. is very familiar with. Now a firefighter with Cal Fire, he spoke with LAist while taking a break from a prescribed burn. He served about 18 years in prison for armed robbery — two of those were as an  incarcerated municipal firefighter.

Imprisoned firefighters typically work as hand crews — using tools to knock down blazes in wildland and control fire lines — but Herrera was assigned to a local fire department. His engine team responded to events like vegetation fires, medical calls, traffic collisions and rescues. Herrera decided on the career after he fought his first residential structure fire.

“I guess you can say I caught the bug,” Herrera said.

But after he was released, Herrera had to jump through lengthy, legal hoops before landing a firefighting job. While petitioning the court to expunge his record, Herrera said even the judge was surprised to learn how in-depth his firefighting experience was.

 ”We do the exact same thing that a skilled professional firefighter does,” he said. “The only difference is one has no criminal record. The other one did or does. Fire is the same.”

Herrera eventually got a job with Cal Fire in part because the department has loosened rules to allow formerly incarcerated firefights to get hired. But he said his background, coupled with his age and the field’s competitiveness, would make him very unlikely to get hired locally.

“ If you do have [your record] expunged, you still have to go through the interview process with the chief explaining your background,” he said. “Unless you know somebody, they’re probably gonna just overlook your application because they’d rather just go with somebody that already has no criminal background and meets the criteria.”

What L.A. County’s program will do

The motion tasks the county fire department and legal counsel to report back in 60 days with an analysis of hiring requirements that will need to be waived in order for people to get the intern role.

Certain criminal backgrounds will be excluded, such as applicants with arson convictions or registered sex offenders.

The role of career development intern has to prepare the employee with the skills that could make them eligible for other jobs at the department, including as a fire suppression aid.

It will be a two-year position, according to L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

The motion also has other components, such as:

• A mentorship and professional development requirement
• Certifications for wildland, structural, hazardous material, and emergency medical technician (EMT)
• Expedited expungement services for participants in state fire camps or the Los Angeles County Training Center (which also trains formerly imprisoned firefighters)

County CEO Feisa Davenport said at the meeting that funding for the program will come from Measure E, a general fire protection tax approved by voters last year.