SALIDA, Colo. (KOAA) — Wildfire mitigation work is happening all across Colorado. This includes the work of a group of Cañon City inmates who are part of the State Wildland Inmate Fire Team (SWIFT), a program through the Colorado Department of Corrections.
To get into the program, inmates go through an application process and must meet a list of requirements. All workers have to have their GED or high school diploma, no write-ups for over a year, meet certain physical and mental standards, and complete SWIFT training.
Alan Brazulis has been a part of the program for close to a year. He appreciates all he has learned during his time on SWIFT, hoping the experience will lead to a career in wildland firefighting after he is released.
“There’s only 18 of us, so we live and work and we breathe this stuff," Brazulis said. "It doesn’t get any bigger than what’s behind me, saving the forest and communities. It’s given me purpose along the way."
Brazulis, alongside other SWIFT crew members, work all across the state four days a week. Chief Aaron Jonke with the Salida Fire Department and South Arkansas Fire Protection District calls the work "critical" for mountain towns.
“The small towns, the small communities, we need as much help as we can because we’re just not financially able to stand up large crews like this," Jonke said. "I think it’s been a special relationship that we’ve had with these guys.”
Like Brazulis, Lawrence Bolton is an inmate at Arrowhead Correctional Center in Cañon City. The two also share an aspiration for a career in wildland firefighting.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a firefighter," Bolton said. "I'm just looking forward to learning everything I can while I’m here and using it when I get out.”
Most men who applied and were accepted to SWIFT are close to the end of their sentence. For each day they fight or help mitigate a wildfire, crew members receive a day off their sentence. The Department of Corrections refers to this as earning "good time."
Mike Reed also wants to pursue a career in wildland fire someday. He has been working on SWIFT for nine months, a job he is proud to do for his son.
“I’m a firefighter in his eyes and that’s the coolest thing for him," Reed said. "I have an 8-year-old boy. I’m a hero in his eyes right now and to rebuild that relationship with him is key for me.”
Family motivates Bolton and Brazulis as well.
“I’ve got two sons, a 22 and a 14-year-old," Bolton said. "The 22-year-old actually wants to try this now, so if I get nothing out of this, at least I got that.”
“I have two children as well, two young girls and they think the world of this too," Brazulis said. "It’s so amazing to be able to call home and tell them about what I was out here doing.”
Alison Lerch is assistant director for forest health and wildfire mitigation for the Department of Natural Resources. She says funding for the program comes from the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP).
“COSWAP was born in 2021 after the devastating 2020 wildfire season that we experienced here in Colorado," Lerch said. "This program was built in partnership with the Department of Corrections’ SWIFT crews and other workforce partners across the state to be able to reduce wildfire risks to life, property, and infrastructure in strategic areas across the state.”
Lerch says just in Chaffee County, the agency has supported almost $4 million in mitigation projects.
“When you’re at the top of one of these mountains and you look down and you can see these fire breaks and you see the community around you and the hard work that you put in," Brazulis said. "There's not a greater feeling in the world.”
Email Senior Reporter Meghan Glova at meghan.glova@koaa.com.
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