What It’s Like To Be an Incarcerated Firefighter
Eddie Herrera Jr., who started working as a firefighter while incarcerated, talks about the job and how he sees what’s happening in Los Angeles.
As of Monday, almost 900 incarcerated firefighters have been deployed to fight the devastating and deadly wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County. In California, hundreds of incarcerated people help fight wildfires year-round, earning a maximum of $10.24 per day plus an additional $1 per hour during emergencies.
Incarcerated people in California are required to work, although involvement in firefighting is voluntary. But they have become an important part of an increasingly critical workforce, even though the practice is dangerous, and incarcerated firefighters are more likely to be injured on the job than non-incarcerated professionals.
Eddie Herrera Jr., a firefighter who lives in South Pasadena, California, served 18 years in prison, and for the last two was an incarcerated municipal firefighter. High Country News spoke with Herrera about his experience as an incarcerated firefighter and how he views what’s going on in L.A. County right now.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
High Country News: Can you tell me a bit about your experience as an incarcerated firefighter?
Eddie Herrera Jr.: Most people think that incarcerated firefighters work as crew in fire camps, which is, basically, you go fight wildfires. My position was a bit different. I was an institutional municipal firefighter, which meant I worked at a fire house or fire station. When I was an incarcerated firefighter, I took medical calls, responded to traffic collisions, residential structure fires, conducted rescues and CPR calls.
“It made me realize firefighting was something that I wanted to do and could do.”
The experience that led me to do what I’m doing now was my first CPR call, which was on a veteran police officer on his way to work in 2019. We were assigned to what we call landing zone coordination, which means airlifting the patient out. My job was to perform CPR on him and get him on the helicopter. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it. But that experience was very impactful for me.
It made me realize firefighting was something that I wanted to do and could do. When his wife came to pick up his body and we loaded him on the gurney and in the back of the van, I remember my captain directing us to put an American flag over his body. And as he was being driven off, my captain asked us to take off our helmets and salute him. I remember the brothers of the police officer coming and shaking my hand and saying thank you. I had never experienced something like that.
They didn’t care in that moment that I was incarcerated. I don’t even know if they knew.
I felt a sense of pride, because I knew that I was not being defined by my circumstances, that I could help and make a change. Because, being incarcerated, it’s this sense of feeling like you’re nothing. You’re basically lost, you know? In those moments, I didn’t feel any of that. I felt like I was human again.
HCN: Incarcerated firefighters in fire camp are typically paid roughly $1 per hour. How much were you paid as an institutional firefighter?
EHJ: Ironically, I got paid less. That dumbfounded me. I got paid $56 a month. When you’re a fire camp firefighter and you make $1 an hour, that’s more than you can make doing any other job. If you [work] a fire season, you can easily make $2,000; you can have like up to $7,000 in your account when you leave. I maxed out at $56 a month. And believe it or not, even just that helps you get the essentials. What helped me the most was the support of my family. I could not have done any of this without the support of my wife and my loved ones.
HCN: Can you speak to the importance of incarcerated firefighters during fires like those in L.A. County?
EHJ: Now I work alongside inmate firefighters in fire camps, and it’s amazing to see. They work so hard. They do the grunt work. They’re so focused. When you’re an incarcerated firefighter, you have this drive in you.
The impact they have is huge, on any fire. Maybe it’s because we have much more to prove, much more to demonstrate. We want you to know that we’re not just the uniform that we have, which is the inmate firefighting uniform. It’s a big impact on fighting these fires, because we do what most people don’t want to physically do.
HCN: What are the biggest issues that incarcerated firefighters face on the job?
EHJ: The biggest issue, like anything in life, is survival. That often means making enough money to provide for yourself or provide for your loved ones. A lot of incarcerated people send money home to help their families.
Apart from not having enough money and resources, a lot of people in prison aren’t able to address issues that are unresolved from before (their incarceration), like drug addiction. But if you haven’t worked through those issues, as a firefighter, those are still there. They still fester. That’s why a lot of people struggle. They’re good people, but it’s just they still have stuff to work on. I think that’s being addressed more now, with drug rehabilitation and counseling programs.
HCN: Are there any reforms or changes that you think are needed to improve prison firefighting programs?
EHJ: Yes — having [firefighter training] programs in place so that … when [people] come home, it’s easier for them to be in the fire service — setting that up and training people while they are still incarcerated, so they can bridge that gap.
When I came into the system, I did not have my high school diploma. Even though I wanted to get my high school diploma, they told me that I couldn’t go to school because I had too much time to serve. [They said,] “You don’t need this right now.” We need to change that mindset. Everybody should be offered these programs. There are 34 adult prisons in California, and a lot of them don’t have access to education.
HCN: How have your experiences influenced the way that you view what’s going in on in L.A. County right now?
EHJ: In one word, empathy. I can empathize, because I’ve experienced it. But at the same time to have it be so close to home. … I live on the border of South Pasadena. I’m 3 1/2 miles away from one of the fires that started in Altadena. I’ve been impacted by this.
“There are 34 adult prisons in California, and a lot of them don’t have access to education.”
Empathy is the biggest thing. I know what it’s like to feel helpless, right? I know what it’s like to be in that situation where I don’t know what to do. I feel empathy and a sense of wanting to help people who are living through this.
There’s a huge need for the fire service. Firefighting is a very gruesome, laborious job, and it’s not for everybody. There’s a huge need, and the ones that are qualified and willing to do it are previously incarcerated individuals.
HCN: Is there anything that you think is important for people to know about being a formerly incarcerated firefighter?
EHJ: As a firefighter, nobody’s going to know you were previously incarcerated unless you share that information. So, at the end of the day, I would say to the general public, keep that in the back of your mind. Just treat people as humans, no matter where they come from, who they are, no matter what. Remind yourself that everybody has the capacity to feel. Everybody has experienced some form of trauma and just wants to feel needed, accepted and validated in some way.
It doesn’t matter if you were incarcerated. What we’re going through now, everybody is experiencing that. We’re all equal in the sense that we’re humans, and we all make mistakes, and we all have the capacity to change.
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