From camp program to CAL FIRE employee

September 16, 2025

Troy Senegal has gone from being incarcerated in the camp program to being a CAL FIRE employee.

Intervention in Senegal’s life began when he spoke with a counselor while in juvenile hall.

“(They) asked me what I wanted to do when I became an adult,” Senegal explained. “I told them I wanted to be a firefighter or a corrections officer.”

When he was sentenced to the California Youth Authority, later the now-shuttered Division of Juvenile Justice, he joined the conservation camp program.

Troy Senegal as a young man. — *Senegal as a youth.*

“It was full scale firefighting. I think some of the biggest fires I’ve ever been on, was the Malibu Topanga Canyon fire back in 1993,” he said. “That’s where I learned my work ethic from.”

Today, he’s a fire apparatus engineer with the CAL FIRE Santa Clara unit.

In his own words: Troy Senegal

Watch the video (story continues below):

Troy was one of the inmates when I worked at Salinas Valley State Prison,” said Lt. M. Nilsson. “He was very good. At Salinas Valley, if you were able to stay out of trouble, that was a really good indicator of what kind of person you are on the inside.”

According to Senegal, it took introspection and a willingness to put in the work to make major changes.

“I reevaluated my life and decided that’s when I needed to change my life and get back to being somebody who wanted to be a productive citizen in society,” he explained. “I was down on my points, and I wanted to get time off. That was one of the main things of what really attracted me to go back to being at fire camp.”

While shaving time off his sentence may have been a motivator, he gained much more from the experience.

“When you get into the camp system and you actually work, you get experience, you get knowledge. It’s something you will never forget in your life,” Senegal said.

He also found encouraging words in front of the Board of Parole Hearings after telling them he wanted to enroll in the Ventura Training Center fire academy.

One commissioner said she believed he would end up with a fire service career.

“You’re going to go far beyond just being a firefighter,” she told him. “You’re going to do something great within that organization.”

Her words surprised and inspired him.

“I never thought of myself like that,” he said. “For people to say that about me, it made me not want to let them down.”

Senegal ended up not getting into the fire academy, so instead he worked on getting hired on his own.

Senegal’s journal from camp to CAL FIRE

“It took me two years to actually get on with CAL FIRE,” he said. “This is my engine here. It’s Santa Clara unit, engine 1661. We respond to medical aids, fire, and any type of emergency.”

Before his mother passed away, he said she was proud of what he’s accomplished.

“She was a correctional sergeant with CDCR,” he said. “For my kids to see me or to see a fire truck and say, hey, there goes papa. (It’s) been the biggest thrill.”

One of his CAL FIRE supervisors is also very encouraging.

“I believe you’ll be my boss at one point,” the supervisor said. “I’ve already told him that. He’s very bright. Troy holds a resiliency that not a lot of other individuals in this department have.”

Senegal is passionate about giving back to the incarcerated population and helping CDCR and CAL FIRE dispel some camp program myths.

“You’re fed a lot of misinformation when you first come to prison,” he said. “When I’ve gone to numerous camps, my thing is to let people know you have a skill CDCR and CAL FIRE has given you.”

New skills and a work ethic instilled by the camp system means there are post-incarceration job opportunities available.

“If you really wanted to pursue this as a career, then you can actually do it. It can be done,” Senegal explained. “No matter how much time that you’ve done, as long as you’re in the camp system, you’re eligible for this job. They give people second chances.”

Video by Bernadette Durley, TV Specialist
Story by Don Chaddock, Inside CDCR editor
Office of Public and Employee Communications

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