California’s untapped pool of firefighters
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Los Angeles’s latest wildfires have reduced communities to ashes and highlighted one of the government’s counterproductive tendencies: barring qualified people from helping their communities because of irrelevant criminal records. Across the country, more than 20,000 laws prevent people from working because of their criminal histories, sometimes even imposing lifetime bans from everyday jobs.
Some of these laws make sense, but others do nothing to protect the public and only prevent former inmates from getting back on their feet. The status quo is bad for people who have paid their debts to society and still face legal roadblocks to supporting themselves. It’s also bad for society, which could benefit from people who want to work.
The Los Angeles fires offer a particularly galling example. Roughly 1,100 incarcerated firefighters battled the Los Angeles fires in January. During wildfires, inmate firefighters work in life-threatening conditions to protect the public.
Equipped primarily with hand tools, they clear vegetation and build fire lines. The work is long and grueling, but many describe the job as rewarding, prestigious and an opportunity to give back. It even inspires many to pursue professional firefighting after they’re released.
Yet the state often bans former inmates from continuing their careers as municipal firefighters. The problem is that most municipal firefighting jobs—including at the Los Angeles Fire Department—require emergency medical technician certification. Many felons are legally prohibited from obtaining an EMT certification, often for life.
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