By Donna Tam
Eureka Times Standard
EUREKA, Calif. — After he is released in March from CalFire High Rock Conservation Camp, inmate Robert Richardson will be working toward getting back there.
A drug offender who has served four of his eight and a half year sentence at the camp, which is a part of the California prison system housing non-violent inmates, Richardson discovered being a firefighter is his true passion.
“I’ve never enjoyed a job as much as I’ve enjoyed fire fighting,” said Richardson, a former carpenter whose face lights up when he talks about fighting fires. If CalFire hires Richardson in May, he hopes he will be able to eventually return to the High Rock unit as a firefighter.
“I feel a loyalty here ... this county is awesome and I feel a lot of loyalty and appreciate to the people here,” he said. He has applied to several of the other 21 sites in the state as well.
Richardson applied to the Humboldt/Del Norte unit in January. The process takes a few months, said Cricket Baird, the public information officer at the Fortuna Command Center. Candidates have to be tested and complete interviews with a panel of officers and other staff. On average 500 to 600 people apply for the 10 to 20 positions, but sometimes the odds for inmates are good.
“Some of the inmates have a leg up because they’ve worked on a fire crew,” Baird said.
In addition to his experience fighting fires for four seasons, Richardson also received a 67-hour fire training course from the fire captains at high rock, and he has acted as a swamper during runs, which is a liaison between the crew and the captain.
“He became a swamper right away because he has that leadership quality,” said California Department of Corrections Sgt. Rudy Franco, who oversees the inmates. “Any captain of Crew 5 (Richardson’s crew) do not have any problems because of him.”
A few years ago, someone suggested to Richardson that he apply to be a full-time firefighter after he got out. At first, he didn’t put much weight on the idea.
“I didn’t think it was possible because of my background,” he said. “It sort of incubated in my mind because I never wanted to say it out loud because I didn’t want to, for lack of a better work, jinx it.”
Franco said he has known several inmates who become firefighters
“It helps you stay out,” he said, adding that the most promising candidates will get the support of the fire captains who often write letters of recommendation or act as a reference for inmates applying to be firefighters.”
CalFire Operations Chief Fred Flores is in charge of the Humbold/Del Norte unit and has seen several inmates make it as a firefighter.
“We’ve had probably four that have come in and become successful, we’ve had a couple try here and there and have decided to become something else,” he said. Every other year or so at least one inmate applies, he said, but the department doesn’t keep track of how many go through the process.
Richardson hopes one day he will work along side the inmates at Fire Rock as a firefighter. The several inmates who have become firefighters he’s met inspired him to follow in their footsteps.
“Without them I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.
Copyright 2008 Eureka Times Standard