Incarcerated Firefighters are on the Frontlines Against the West Coast Wildfires
August 2026 – As wildfires burned more than 10,000 acres across Washington this summer, incarcerated firefighters were among those on the frontlines. Based in Spokane, the Arcadia 20 (ARC-20) transitional hand crew trains incarcerated people to fight wildfires while preparing them for careers as civilian firefighters after release. In August, ARC-20 helped contain the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires, part of a wildfire season that forced roughly 67,000 evacuations.
“Since day one, boots on the ground, we were gunning, running and gunning,” ARC-20 Crew Lead Jason De La Cruz told BBC. De La Cruz, who has served 17 years of a 25-year sentence for burglary and firearm possession, credits the crew with helping him grow and develop new skills: “It’s building us. It’s crazy to say but they’re building men…this program is giving me the opportunity to grow the hell up.”
Operating year-round, ARC-20 answers the call whenever they are needed to supplement existing fire crews. In its first 30 months, the group responded to more than 80 wildfires and treated approximately 3,000 acres across Eastern Washington.
The ARC-20 Hand Crew program emerged in 2022, the direct result of a house bill that enables collaboration between the Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). After a competitive process that recruits on the criteria of “work ethic, experience, dedication, positive behavior,” those selected are trained to conduct prescribed burns (planned and controlled fires), use dangerous equipment, and ensure the containment of fires.
But ARC-20 is an exception to a broader system. While ARC-20 participants transition from full confinement into a reentry center and become full-time DNR state employees who receive state wildland firefighter wages and benefits, roughly 230 people in Washington’s traditional correctional fire camps remain fully incarcerated and earn up to $ per hour.
The Washington DNR used to refer to these minimum-to-medium security facilities as “offender honor camps,” claiming they have been helping incarcerated volunteers “avoid idleness while providing cost-effective work on state and other public lands” since 1943. Beyond meager compensation, the “sense of pride that comes from working hard and accomplishing something of value” is the program’s purported benefit. As states increasingly face staffing shortages of wildfire labor, the question arises of whether Washington’s system adequately compensates incarcerated workers and prepares them for employment after release.
In California, the nearly 1,000 incarcerated firefighters battling the deadly 2025 Eaton Fires were paid $ – $ per day, plus an additional $1 per day when assigned to active emergencies.
“You’re getting pennies compared to the other folks that’s alongside of you. You’re just cheap labor. And if you do pass away while fighting fires, you don’t get any benefits from that,” Royal Ramey, a formerly incarcerated firefighter in California, told the BBC.
Incarcerated individuals also face tremendous difficulty securing firefighting jobs after release, encountering professional barriers despite having relevant experience and extensive training.
Ramey’s nonprofit, Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, is one of the only programs helping released individuals navigate the record expungement process and certifications necessary for employment in California’s wildland agencies.
Between 1984 and 2015, the number of large fires has doubled in the western United States. Hotter and drier conditions associated with climate change have contributed to increasingly severe wildfire conditions. Even as wildfire seasons strengthen and lengthen, the protections and benefits afforded to incarcerated firefighters vary dramatically from state to state.
Ramey insists, “if we really want to tackle this issue, we need to educate people on all levels of what this climate crisis is, and then we need to embrace and then integrate. And we need to bring everybody to the table so they can be able to help with the solution.”
As California prepares to implement a bill that will standardize a certification and employment program for formerly incarcerated firefighters, Washington must also reckon with its treatment of incarcerated firefighters and what happens after they leave prison. For Ramey, bringing everyone to the table calls for fair compensation, institutional guidance in securing jobs post-release, and an end to criminalizing rhetoric and stigma.
Programs like ARC-20 offer one model for connecting incarcerated firefighting work with wages, training, and support for re-entry. As climate change intensifies, wildfire seasons and the demand for firefighting labor will continue to grow. The question we face now is, how can incarcerated individuals fighting wildfires be compensated and given a second chance post-incarceration.
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