NEWCASTLE — The scream of chainsaws rose in the early morning sky above the scraggly bluffs outside Newcastle as Jeremy Deplitch bounded up the rocky trail toward the noise.
He pointed out a neat pile of recently cut juniper tree limbs stacked and ready for burning.
“That’s perfect,” he said of the pile, explaining the bottom-up burn dynamics of the timber and why the composition was spot on.
Deplitch yelled his approval to three men in red shirts and yellow hard hats hunched near a tree stump, de-limbed and ready for chopping.
The guys are three of 15 inmates incarcerated at the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp in Newcastle, one of state’s two minimum security prisons, and members of the Wyoming Smokebusters.
The Smokebusters are a joint operation between the Wyoming State Forestry Division and the Wyoming Department of Corrections dating back to 1964. Their primary role is forestry management, and they’re also called out on wildland firefighters as the only hand crew dedicated solely to Wyoming.
Deplitch, a seasoned wildland firefighter as well as a former correctional officer, oversees the group as module leader for the forestry division and is in charge of scheduling and day-to-day operations.
On this day, the crew of 15 is divided into two groups.
The newbies and their crew supervisor, Lee Loberg, are down on the flats practicing their felling skills as part of day four of their chainsaw training course.
Employees, Not Inmates
The more seasoned crew, meanwhile, is up on the steeps cutting trees with supervisor Shawn Ankeny who, like Deplitch, also has dual backgrounds in wildland firefighting and corrections.
This crew is thinning trees under a certain radius within a 12-foot spacing.
It’s physical work, but the guys are appreciative to be outside and enjoy it, Ankeny said.
For his part, Ankeny said he enjoys this side of corrections much better having come from the maximum-security prison in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He’s well acquainted with criminal behavior and said these men exhibit none of that.
Here, they’re treated as employees, he said, as opposed to solely as inmates, and are expected to be professional. If they’re not living up to the duties of the job, the supervisors call them out, which so far has been effective, both Ankeny and Deplitch said.
Having this job is seen as privilege, and the inmates treat it as such.
“I’m not going to treat you as an inmate until I have to,” Ankeny said. “And if I have to, you’re not going to be here.”
Busy Summer
This year has been one of the longest and busiest in recent memory, Deplitch said, and his current crew is one of the program’s best.
So far, the Smokebusters have responded to 26 fires since Feb. 28 in eight Wyoming counties, including the Pleasant Valley fire in Platte and Goshen counties that burned upward of 29,000 acres.
This has been a prolific season, according to Nathan Butler, assistant fire management officer of operations for the forestry division.
He said the with 683 wildfires that burned more than 700,000 with others burning to date, including the 62,000-acre Elk Fire.
In many cases, these fires were within driving distance of the facility, so inmates were able to return that day. In cases where they are more than 90 minutes or farther out of town, they’ll camp on site with a correctional officer sent overnight to do security.
The pay for the inmate firefighters starts at 90 cents an hour and is paid by WDOC. While out on fires, forestry pays rookie entry-level firefighters $1.50 an hour, and then every five fires they get a quarter raise for a max of $4 an hour.
History
The forestry conservation program dates back to 1964 when it began as a mobile camp with inmates from the Wyoming State Penitentiary.
That first iteration was comprised of a correctional officer, a state forestry supervisor and six inmates.
Their original goal, just as today, was conservation, including fire mitigating efforts. The mobile camp shut down in 1974 because of a dwindling population of inmates and remained closed until 1979.
During this time, the Wyoming State Forestry Division and WDOC worked together to get inmates out on fires when needed.
A second attempt to revive the program came in 1980 when a five- to 15-member crew was sent into the Snowy Range Mountains in weekly stints to thin lodgepole pines and peel trees into posts and poles and salvaged firewood.
That lasted three years before the program again took a six-year hiatus.
Finally in 1989, the Wyoming Legislature voted to create a permanent conservation camp in Newcastle which, at its onset, housed 50 inmates compared to more than 200 today.
Since its onset, the program has expanded and shrunk due to budgetary or staffing cuts, which continues to determine the number of its crews. There are now 15 inmates on the Smokebusters, though Deplitch hopes to double that number by spring 2025.
Hard To Staff
The hardest part about running an inmate-based crew is keeping it staffed as inmates are paroled, Butler and Deplitch both said.
There’s also a huge learning curve given the nature of the work, Deplitch added, which requires constant retraining as inmates rotate out. Though they do have some long-termers, the average tenure is about five months, which makes it a constant challenge to keep the Smokebusters trained and ready to go.
Deplitch stressed the need for safety and continued training is paramount to the success of the program.
Right now, Deplitch said, they’re having a hard time finding crew members in general for a couple different reasons.
For starters, they have to pass a strict multi-disciplinary team process to be approved. This means they can’t have been charged for murder or other violent crimes or have a history of absconding.
In the past, inmates have escaped while out on crews, though it doesn’t happen often, Deplitch said.
The most recent was John Handy, who absconded while out working in June 2023. He was on the lam for more than a year, but eventually turned himself in this past July, saying he was “tired of running,” according to the Newcastle News Letter Journal.
The escape led to a change in protocols to prevent such incidents in the future.
They also have to be physically up to the job and pass a “pack test,” requiring them to pack a 45-pound vest and walk 3 miles in less than 45 minutes.
If they meet those qualifications, Smokebusters also undergo a series of training courses including the Chainsaw training as well as week-long basic wildland firefighting class.
Physical Labor Not For Everyone
Another challenge is that they’re competing with less physically intense positions around the Honor Camp in the kitchen, grounds and elsewhere.
Deplitch is finding that fewer inmates seem interested in the arduous physical labor the job demands, he said.
“It’s hard work,” Deplitch said, “and that’s not for everyone.”
Kevin Brown, 54, has been on the Smokebuster crew for two years and enjoys the physicality and being able to give back to the community. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily) 
Inmate Walter Eiden, 57, has been a member of the Smokebusters with five years and more than 1,000 hours of wildland firefighting experience. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily) 
The "wall of flame" inside the state forestry building on the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp facility captures highlights from some of the fires crews have battled over the years. (Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily)
Hard Work
The nature of the work is exactly what appeals to long-timers Walter Eiden and 54-year-old Kevin Brown.
Eiden, a 57-year-old inmate serving an 18- to 20-year sentence for second-degree sexual assault, has been on the crew for five years, the longest of any of the inmates now in forestry.
To date, he’s fought on 39 wildland fires throughout the state in excess of 1,000 hours.
At 57, the work is physically challenging, which he appreciates along with other aspects of the job.
“It teaches people to be a team, especially on fires,” he said. “We depend on each other, our lives are dependent on each other.”
It’s also in keeping with the nonprofit foundation Helping Others Help Themselves that he hopes to start once on the outside with the goal of teaching life, job skills and job training.
He also appreciates that the Smokebusters are doing work to support the community. The experience has taught him to be responsible for himself and his actions, he said.
Brown also appreciates the physical nature of the work and the fact that they’re helping others.
Brown, 54, is serving a 9- to 10-year sentence and is eligible for parole in 2028. He’s been on the Smokebusters for two years. He said he’s appreciative that the prison has such a program that allows them to get outside and do the work. He also sees it as an opportunity to turn his life around.
“I guess I signed up to challenge myself,” he said, “and to try to make my kids proud.”
Both said that they don’t feel any different from the other wildland firefighters, despite their red jackets and shirts that denote them as inmates.
That distinction doesn’t matter when they’re on the frontlines fighting fires, Eiden said, when the most important matter in front of them is saving lives and people’s properties.
Deplitch is proud of the Smokebusters’ role in firefighting as well as the many forestry projects they’ve done over the past eight years. He pointed to surrounding hills where his crews have thinned juniper trees to allow for healthy growth of mountain mahogany to enhance mule deer habitat.
“They’re doing good work,” he said, “and I’m proud of them.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
