Oregon's Latino Firefighters Raise Safety Concerns

SHERIDAN, Ore., July 13, 2006 — -- This tiny town is called Timbertown USA for good reason. Trucks carrying logs and plywood rumble through constantly, and clear-cut patches of land on the mountains above offer evidence of Oregon's bustling forestry industry.

With all the hauled wood and open timber, it comes as no surprise that Oregon is also home to a large number of private firefighting firms. And many firefighters working in these private firms are undocumented Latinos, a fact that has raised legal and safety concerns from federal auditors. Now the state of Oregon is working to fix the problem.

Since the government began cutting back funding for firefighting responsibilities, private contractors have charged in to fill the gap. Seventy-five percent of contract firefighting crews in the United States now come from the Pacific Northwest, and most of them are Latino.

"What we know is that 85 percent of the crew makeup is of Hispanic descent," said Jim Walker of Oregon's Department of Forestry.

Most of the firefighters earn between $10 and $15 an hour -- that's cheaper than government employees. But according to contractors, at least one-tenth of them are undocumented workers. That poses a dilemma to the contracting companies charged with putting out wild land fires.

"It's no way I can tell if they're legal," said contractor Manuel Franco who manages 200 Latino firefighters.

Franco said he's only required to look at Social Security cards or green card work permits.

"I mean, they show me the papers, and they say 'yes,' and that's the way I believe," he adds.

When pressed on whether he believes some of his workers are here illegally, Franco shrugs and says, "I don't know, I don't know."

What would happen if tough new legislation cracked down on the undocumented workers? It depends on whom you talk to about it. Bill Lafferty, director of the Oregon Fire Program, said he believed the state could find enough "legal" crews.

"I think so. I mean we're looking for 200 fully documented crews, and so far we got 162 this summer, so I'm not worried," he said.