Taste of Freedom

The afternoon session was spent with the “Swamper” which is the inmate firefighter in charge of the 17 man crew. He showed us how to deploy a fire shelter which is basically a six and a half foot pup tent which is flame resistant. When a firefighter deploys this shelter, it usually is not a good thing. The best fire shelter is the one not used; however, wild fire is very unpredictable and things happen. Once the fire fighter is inside the shelter it resembles a very large baked potato wrapped in aluminum foil. It is very claustrophobic inside one of these but they do provide relief from the fire. I really thought I was going to have difficulties with these because I don’t possess the best mechanical skills. But the deployment is very easy as it is – open, shake, get in and lay down. All of this must be accomplished in 30 seconds. I wasn’t the fastest to get in but I wasn’t the slowest. Hopefully, the semi annual training with these fire shelters will be the only time I have to get in these.

The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to the Swamper tell stories about fire camp which were very positive. It is hard to believe the fire camp is part of the prison system. There are many “freedoms” but from what I heard yesterday, all of these are earned with hard work. The California Department of Forestry makes good use of the inmate fire fighters and has a high rate of return on the inmates. The pay is $1.00 a day when not fighting a fire and $1.00 an hour when fighting fires. I am more interested in having my time cut from 50% to 33% when I get there. For each month I am here I am losing 10 days to seeing my family.

I sure hope I don’t have to wait three and four months as some of my race have waited. Yes, it is racially balanced. Hopefully, the Coach will be able to expedite my transfer as quickly as possible. Yesterday, I spoke with the normal inmate and he is being transferred to the camp of his choice in Southern California only 2 weeks after his training. I need assistance in getting transferred just as the normal inmate had. I am hoping and praying to move on as quickly as possible.

Since I couldn’t call my wife on Monday, I really needed to speak with her and fortunately I was able to do so. It was a great conversation and she made me aware of something very important that I have been thinking a great deal about. I was very pleased and relieved to hear what she had to say. The consequences of my actions are far reaching beyond myself and certainly extend to my wife and children. I realize I don’t live in a vacuum and the things I have done have hurt my family tremendously. I cannot undo this damage, I can only recover which is what I am doing everyday. My family also needs to recover from my actions.

Day 5 of the FTP training is a very special day because it is when the class piles into the “bus” and goes off into the hills for practical hands on training. I was very excited for this day and couldn’t wait for it to start. The Swamper went over the protocol. He showed us how we must line up, where we must sit on the bus and how we handle the tools. He also gave each one of us a helmet, goggles, shroud, web belt with two water containers and a fire shelter. We then drove to the hillside which was a 35 minute drive and it was the first time in 7 ½ months that I had been in a vehicle NOT wearing handcuffs and leg irons. This was the taste of freedom I have been waiting for.

As we drove higher and higher into the hillside which is the backside of Yosemite National Park, I saw snow on the side of the road. The higher we drove, the more snow there was. It has been very cold this past week and on Tuesday of this week the rain changed to snow briefly at the prison which is less than 1200 feet above sea level. The higher elevations experienced more snow and when we reached our destination high in the hills there was about 6 inches of now on the ground. We got out of the bus and the Swamper took us on a very small hike and led us on a 20 minute trek through the woods. It felt incredible being outside with no walls or barbed wire around. The scenery was amazing as the sky was crystal clear and the sun shone brightly.

After the brief hike, the Swamper built a fire which took awhile because everything was wet. He built a fire to show us how to cut a fire line around the fire using an axe which is called a “Pulaski.” We did this the entire day. It was quite amazing because here stood 17 convicted felons swinging a “deadly weapon” yet it is standard operating procedure for fire camp. In my opinion, what is also fascinating is a quote I read from a California Assemblyman who was referring to early release due to the overcrowding. This person said, “No criminal can be released until their time is served. If they are, it will pose a threat to public safety.” Here I was standing on a hillside with 16 felons swinging an axe which is okay in someone’s opinion, but an early release is out of the question. Anyhow, the day was great as I ate my P&J sandwich under an oak tree. I am looking forward to getting to fire camp so I can experience this very special part of my journey.