StoryCorps: Daniel Ross

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 01:47

Daniel Ross talks about being a volunteer firefighter while serving time in a minimum security prison. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps: Daniel Ross
From: StoryCorps

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The drought of 2012 is the worst since the 1950′s. With so many scorched acres, wildfires have been steadily burning across the center of the country this summer.

Across the western U.S., wildfires are fought in part by prison inmates. This has been a busy year for these firefighters -- in Wyoming, inmates have been dispatched more than 50 times to battle fires in all four corners of the state.

Daniel Ross began working as an inmate firefighter there in 2011. He is a former crystal meth addict who is currently serving time for aggravated assault against a police officer.

At StoryCorps, he remembered his first fire.

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Piece Description

The drought of 2012 is the worst since the 1950′s. With so many scorched acres, wildfires have been steadily burning across the center of the country this summer.

Across the western U.S., wildfires are fought in part by prison inmates. This has been a busy year for these firefighters -- in Wyoming, inmates have been dispatched more than 50 times to battle fires in all four corners of the state.

Daniel Ross began working as an inmate firefighter there in 2011. He is a former crystal meth addict who is currently serving time for aggravated assault against a police officer.

At StoryCorps, he remembered his first fire.

Broadcast History

NPR's Morning Edition, August 24, 2012.

Transcript

Daniel Ross (DR): That first night we were just dripping sweat. Can’t see nothing. Coughing. Eyes are all watering. And these trees just exploding in front of me. I was horrified. I was scared. I mean, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.

But when we go on the fires, people treat you different. Even if they do know you’re an inmate, alls they see is a hard working person that’s helping them. And it feels great.

Last year we got called to this town of Saratoga. And we worked for 2 weeks. And then, at the end of our stay, townspeople wanted to donate us a prime rib dinner. Now, we don’t get prime rib very much here in prison. And I’d noticed that these people that were waiting on us in this really fancy, beautiful restaurant, were like in plain-Jane clothes.

Well, right before we got our main course, the owners came up, and they said, “I want to introduce you...
Read the full transcript

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

The last time a drought affected this much of the U.S. was during the mid 1950s. And with so much parched land, the center of the country can be described as a tinderbox.

For StoryCorps this week, we turn to Wyoming, one of the hotspots for wildfires this summer.

There, many wildfires are fought by teams of prison inmates.

And today we'll hear from one of them. Daniel Ross is a former crystal-meth addict who is currently serving time for aggravated assault against a police officer.

Here, Daniel remembers fighting his first fire.

OUTRO:

That's prisoner Daniel Ross in Newcastle, Wyoming. This is Ross's second summer fighting fires.

This interview, like all StoryCorps interviews, will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

The StoryCorps podcast is at NPR.org.