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| Helping fight fires teaches inmates skills, teamwork |
| By The Arizona Republic |
| Published: 07/02/2004 |
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Out in Payson, Ariz., Michael Gaglio is just another firefighter. He wears the same green pants and works the same 12-hour shifts, cutting lines to stop the flames and throwing dirt on hot spots where the fire has cut swaths through the Mazatzal Wilderness southwest of Payson. Just about nobody knows that Gaglio, 30, is serving five years at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Douglas for burglary. "We're giving back to the community," Gaglio said. "You see how you can help people instead of hurt people. "You're part of something positive rather than something negative." Twenty inmates are among nearly 600 firefighters battling the "Willow" fire, the state's largest wildfire this year. The blaze has already charred more than 23,000 acres and is burning about seven miles from Payson. No part of it has been contained, but evacuations have not been ordered. Last Tuesday, firefighters from across the state and throughout the country tried to keep the flames from jumping the East Verde River. About 10 miles away, in Pine, the inmates cut apart dead logs, pulled away rocks and cleared brush to help protect the town if the fire crossed the river and headed that way. They had already cut seven miles of fire line along the fire's border and had four hours' of work ahead of them. For his day's labor, James Budner, 39, who is serving five years for possession of drugs, earned $12. But this is about more than money. This is a chance for these men to learn life lessons: responsibility and teamwork, camaraderie and discipline. It is a privilege for them to be here, a chance to learn a skill that could land them a job - and a future - when they are released. "When we come out here, we're treated like men," Budner said. "You can't ask for much more than that." Across the state, 119 inmates make up four firefighting crews. They have been deployed 32 times this year, according to the state Department of Corrections. The inmates undergo the same training as any other firefighters and are held to rigid standards of behavior all year long. They can have no major disciplinary actions in the past year, nothing even minor in the past six months. They must be within three years of release, be serving their time for non-violent crimes and have no history of escape attempts. Officer David Ruiz said that in 11 years of supervising inmate firefighting crews, no one has ever tried to escape. Very few of the men ever return to prison after they are released. And, sometimes, he even sees some of them out on the lines, fighting fires as free men. |
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