'This program is a beautiful thing,' said Kirk Brown, when interviewed this week in the pouring rain on the side of the road. While the low wage appalls many, it's the highest pay an inmate can receive for work while incarcerated. The inmates earn $2 a day while in the camps and $1 an hour when out battling fires. If an inmate is in jail for sexual offenses, arson and or they have any history of escape, they can't participate. Only minimum- custody inmates are eligible to volunteer for the fire-fighting camps and they need to earn the right to participate through good behavior. During World War II, the predecessor agency to Cal Fire was short on workers and the idea was hatched to have inmates occupy 'temporary camps' to augment the regular firefighting forces. The unique program dates back 100 years and began with prisoners assigned to work road crews. Thirty California prison camps were assigned to the Sonoma/Napa fires, including one all-female crew from Southern California. We are just so appreciative that they were there to help.' 'If it hadn't been for those inmates, the vineyard would have been wiped out. 'There just weren't enough resources available during the height of these fires,' added Cook. Some homeowners whose houses they helped save dubbed the inmates 'angels in orange.' He said he started crying when he saw them coming down over the hill to their rescue.' 'One of the Paganis, who works for me, was evacuating a relative from the property when he saw the inmates arrive. 'The fire was raging down the back side of the hill from the Warm Springs area and they created a fire line that saved the vineyard,' said Cook, who also serves as a member of the Sonoma City Council. They wear orange fire-resistant suits and do specific work, primarily cutting containment lines and clearing brush to keep a wildfire within boundaries.ĭavid Cook, of Cook Vineyard Management, manages the 80-acre Pagani Ranch Vineyard, just south of Kenwood, and he says that the property's 110-year-old vines were saved by a crew of inmates. 'In the Nuns fire, the inmate crews were an indispensable resource in protecting the structures and ultimately controlling the fire,' said Sonoma Valley Fire Battalion Chief Bob Norrbom. 'The inmates are overseen by the Corrections Department while they are in the camps, and by CalFire when they leave camp,' said Correction Department spokesperson Bill Sessa.