PHOTO ESSAY: Young California inmates learn skills to fight wildfires

Inmate firefighters in California will receive higher pay and the state will make permanent firefighting camps that train and educate young offenders under two laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California state agencies and the Los Angeles County fire department run 35 “fire camps” where inmates train to become certified wildland firefighters. More than 1,100 inmate firefighters worked alongside state firefighters to stop wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year that leveled neighborhoods and killed at least 30 people.

The Youth Offender Program, run out of the Pine Grove Conservation Camp and Growlesberg Conservation Camp in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, specifically trains inmates under 25 to battle wildfires. The participants also receive education and mentorship. The program started as a pilot project in 2023, and it will now become permanent.

Damien Rubalcava, who was convicted of homicide and sentenced to 14 years, said the program has given him purpose and peace. The 25-year-old father of two said his participation means he will now get out by 2029 instead of 2036, and he will be ready to continue helping others.

“Once upon a time I was putting a lot of harm on my own community,” he said. “Now’s it’s my time to shine and give back.”

The second law signed Monday by Newsom raises inmate firefighter pay during active emergencies to match the minimum wage — currently $7.25 per hour. Right now, inmate firefighters earn between $5.80 to $10.24 a day and an extra $1 an hour during active wildfires. That means the lowest-paid firefighters earn less than $30 per 24-hour shift.

Inmates train to become firefighters for the chance to cut time off their sentences, to get outside the prison walls and for training that might help them land a job once they’re out.

“Nobody who puts their life on the line for other people should earn any less than the federal minimum wage,” said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who authored the bill.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Inmates ride in a vehicle at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Timothy Woods talks on the phone at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

An inmate rests at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Timothy Woods adjusts his necklace at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Damien Rubalcava, center, lifts weights in a gym at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Inmates socialize at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

A Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmate mops a crew vehicle, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Photos are pinned to a bulletin board at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Damien Rubalcava washes his face after work at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Damien Rubalcava, left, unloads tools after work at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmates pause while clearing brush along a road, July 14, 2025, near Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

A Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmate clears brush along a road, July 14, 2025, near Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

A Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmate sharpens a chainsaw after clearing brush, July 14, 2025, near Ione, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmates take a lunch break, July 14, 2025, near Ione, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmates clear brush along a road, July 14, 2025, near Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

A Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp inmate, left, examines a deer antler while clearing brush along a road, July 14, 2025, near Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

A participant in the Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program lines up before work at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Damien Rubalcava, left, is patted down after work at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Participants in the Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program line up before work at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp, July 14, 2025, in Red Corral, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

CAIRO (AP) — Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen overnight claimed new attacks on neighboring Saudi Arabia, as Yemen's Saudi-backed government described the rebels' swift advance along the Red Sea coast as a “painful” development in a new front in the Iran war.

The Houthis' capture of a key port city and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, in recent days has alarmed markets and Yemeni civilians who fear a return to devastating civil war.

Overnight, the Houthis claimed more attacks with missiles and drones on Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's internationally recognized government that's been fighting the rebels.

A Houthi military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed in a statement that they targeted a military base in Sharurah province in Saudi Arabia's Najran region. He didn’t provide evidence or say when the attack occurred.

The Saudi civil defense overnight said a projectile fell in al-Tawwal governorate near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. The statement blamed the Houthis. It also said sirens went off in Sharurah province but didn’t report casualties or damage.

There was no Saudi statement Sunday on any new attacks targeting the Houthis, who have been hitting Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping as part of a recently declared blockade.

While the rebels have said there is no threat to other commercial shipping, markets remain wary and oil prices have risen again.

A senior government official in Yemen said its forces will return to the Red Sea coast and fight back, after people fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they saw forces withdrawing and urging people to run.

Sultan al-Arada, a member of the ruling presidential council, described the collapse of government forces in the port city of Mokha and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast as “painful and regrettable.”

Al-Arada, also governor of central Marib province, said in the televised interview aired late Saturday that forces “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another.”

On Friday, a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government blamed “lack of coordination” between Yemen’s army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis “a priceless opportunity.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media, also said they were stunned that the Saudi air force didn't act to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the strait.

The National Resistance, a government-allied force, said more than 500 government fighters were killed on the west coast over the past four weeks.

In its first comprehensive toll, the force, which had controlled the coastal areas including Mokha, said about 1,500 others were wounded in the fighting against the Houthis since Aug. 9.

It said in a statement that more than 1,000 Houthis were killed on multiple front lines in the provinces of Hodeida and Taiz.

The National Resistance, which is commanded by Tariq Saleh, a nephew of Yemen’s late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, vowed to fight back, saying that it will “continue its struggle within the ranks of the armed forces … (until) Yemen is liberated from Iran’s proxies.”

The rebels’ rapid advance has been a major setback both to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Saudi Arabia, which have been battling the Houthis for 12 years. The latest escalation has ended a ceasefire that had largely stopped fighting across Yemen since 2022.

The advance also puts the Iran-backed rebels just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the U.S. military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb. It's the main U.S. base in Africa and one of several foreign military bases in Djibouti, including those of China, France and Japan.

The small Horn of Africa nation is already seeing the arrival of Yemenis making the perilous crossing of the strait. More than 2,000 people have reached Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday.

Djibouti's Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M. Dawaleh, said on X that the country's navy, coast guard and other specialized agencies were conducting rescue operations and providing emergency assistance.

Associated Press writer Omar Farouk in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to his report.

This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, shows, according to the group, Houthi fighters among vehicles abandoned by Saudi-backed forces during a Houthi advance at an undisclosed location in southern Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)

This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, shows Houthi fighters chant after praying beside military vehicles during what the group says was their advance against Saudi-backed forces at an undisclosed location in southern Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)

This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, shows Houthi fighters inspecting what the group says is an abandoned position during their advance against Saudi-backed forces at an undisclosed location in southern Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)

People walk at a street in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Yemeni civilians celebrate while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Bani Matar district, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city. (AP Photo/STR)

Displaced Yemenis rest at a temporary shelter in the Dar Saad district of Aden, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, after fleeing Houthi attacks in the western coastal cities of al-Khokha and Mokha. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

This photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency shows damage to a building after a projectile fell in Al-Tawwal, Jazan, Saudi Arabia, on the southern border with Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)