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In reply to the discussion: 30 Percent of California's Forest Firefighters Are Prisoners [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Last edited Tue Sep 1, 2015, 12:53 PM - Edit history (1)
the first time I found one of these crews... it was kind of a surprise. A few years later, a local USF firefighter came from one of the crews. He was hired for the season and was hoping to get full time with the Feds, even if he had to move to another state. The only thing he still had to do, was remove some of the tats. So he was in the process of doing that in between seasons. People have no idea how long it takes to do that. (For that matter how painful). And it was not becuase the Forest Service said such... he left that life behind.
I get why Mother Jones wrote the story, but the story has problems... including the fact that California does not have a private prison system. They strongly hint at it... yes, it costs the state little money when you look at the pay, and only the pay, and you forget the cost to house, feed and equip these guys and gals. The food cots are higher than at prison, though they do admit they are fed better.
Now let's look at the cost of just the equipment they wear.
A PPE... firefighgtiing uniform, runs about 1000 per firefighter.
Pants are anywhere from 150 to 400 depending on brand and bells and whistles.
jackets about the same
Helmet you are talking 150
Pack... 500 (we looked into them, since we at times truck into the fires)
Fire shelter, which sometimes works, sometimes does not, 300
Gloves, average 35, again depending on brand
Boots, 400
Under shirt 70 (the most expensive t-shit I ever bought)
Goggles, about 100
I just spent 50 on a good flashlight... (mine got weird)
And that is before things like oh the rest of the gear, and the training.
Plus the program WORKS... as you experienced.
Oh and I met him last year