Firefighting Program Offers Juvenile Inmates A Chance To Give Back
Among the first firefighters on the scene when wildfires broke out in eastern Washington this summer was a crew of juveniles — inmates, actually. The crew, teens aged 15 to 19, were building fire lines and digging trenches. Hard work, in difficult conditions.
Last month, one teenager escaped from the work camp and later shot himself during a standoff with police. He has since recovered.
The program, however, may not. One of the few of its kind in the country, it is now under review.
Spencer Mooers, acting-associate superintendent of the Naselle Youth Camp, a state juvenile prison on the coast of Washington, says inmates in the program went through training before working the fires.
"They have the exact same level of certification that any other person that's out there has," Mooers tells NPR's Rachel Martin.
"Our duties tend to be cutting fire line [and] doing mop-up activity — so after the fire burns through an area, they go back and hit any of the hot spots and make sure that the fire's out and not going to get going again," he explains.
He says most of the participants are disappointed that the program was halted.
"It's kind of a privilege to participate, and most of the kids kind of want to," he says.
Local news station KOMO reports that the juveniles in the work program were monitored 24 hours a day, and that the gun used by the escaped inmate was stolen the same night from a vehicle in the area.
Interview Highlights
On the inmates at Naselle Youth Camp
The kids that we have have a high percentage of drug and alcohol issues, we have a pretty high prevalence of mental issues. It's kind of heartbreaking. We have kids that, you know, every kind of bad story that you hear about, stuff that happens to kids, we have have those kids here, too.
On giving inmates vocational training
Most of the kids enjoy the experience. They're busy, so they're not just sitting around. We really want to try and get you to have a positive experience — catch up in school, have some vocational opportunities — and then return to your home community and kind of move on, kind of get past this point in your life.
On the value of the firefighting program
When I see a picture that we have of the kids over in Walla Walla [Wash.], they're standing in a semi-circle, and the local community's come in and they're handing out ice cream bars to those kids. I think the ability to be seen as a positive force, when so many of them have had the experience of not being seen in that light, it's something they can kind of say, "I gave back to the community."
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Transcript
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When fires broke out in eastern Washington state earlier this summer, one of the groups of firefighters on the scene was a crew of juveniles - inmates, actually - teenagers from ages 15 to 19 who were building fire lines and digging trenches, hard work in difficult conditions. Last month, one teenager escaped from this work camp, later shooting himself during a standoff with police. He has recovered since then. The program, however, may not. One of the few of its kind in the country, it is now under review. Spencer Mooers is the acting associate superintendent of the Naselle Youth Camp on the coast of Washington. He joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
SPENCER MOOERS: You're welcome.
MARTIN: So the kids who go out to work on the fires, what is a typical day?
MOOERS: When they're on the fires, you know, they get up probably 5 o'clock in the morning, and they have breakfast. They're then going to go out. And our duties tend to be cutting fire line, kind of doing mop up activities. So after the fires kind of burn through an area, they go back and try and, you know, hit any of the hot spots and make sure that the fires out and not going to get going again.
MARTIN: Because obviously these kids don't have any training in this.
MOOERS: No, no. They do. No, they do.
MARTIN: Oh, do they?
MOOERS: They have exact same level of certification that any other person that's out there has.
MARTIN: So who are these kids? Where do they come from? Why are they at the work camp?
MOOERS: We're one of the state juvenile prisons in Washington, so they come from all over the state. They've all been through the local court systems and adjudicated.
MARTIN: And do they have a choice as to whether or not they go out and work on a fire line? Can they opt to just stay inside the camp?
MOOERS: It's kind of a privilege to be able to participate, and most of the kids kind of want to. It's not appropriate for every kid. We have kids that need to participate in school full time and we have kids doing that. So it's limited. It's not every kid participating.
MARTIN: Can you give us a sense of the challenges these kids have had to overcome?
MOOERS: You know, unfortunately, we kind of are the last line in the state. The kids that we have - high percentage of drug and alcohol issues, we have a pretty high prevalence of mental health issues. And, you know, it's kind of heartbreaking. We have kids that, you know, every kind of bad, you know, story that you hear about stuff that happens to kids - we have those kids here, too.
MARTIN: Have you had conversations with these kids about how they see this experience?
MOOERS: Oh, yeah. Most of them are really positive about it. I was talking to a kid last week and he's kind of disappointed that we're not doing anything right now. He'd kind of worked himself to the position of kind of being team captain on the crew, and so he's disappointed. And most of the kids really, I think, do enjoy the experience. They're busy so they're not just kind of sitting around. We really want to try and get you to have a positive experience, you know, catch up in school, have some vocational opportunities and then, you know, return to your home community and kind of move on and kind of get past this point in your life.
MARTIN: We mentioned the program is in review. Do you think that the teenagers will be back next summer working as firefighters?
MOOERS: I really hope so. I really hope so. I mean, I think - you know, when I see a picture of the kids that we had over in Walla Walla, they're kind of standing in a semi-circle and the local communities come in and they're handing out ice cream bars to those kids. I think, you know, the ability to be seen as a positive force, when so many of them have kind of had an experience of not being seen in that light, it's really something, you know, where they can kind of say, I gave back to the community. So I'm really hopeful we'll be able to get back.
MARTIN: Spencer Mooers runs the Naselle Youth Camp near Long Beach in Washington state. Thanks so much for talking with us.
MOOERS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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