Incarcerated Firefighters Are Battling the L.A. Wildfires

Incarcerated Firefighters Battle California Blazes for Low Pay, Redemption
Roughly 30 percent of firefighters battling the California wildfires are incarcerated, earning time off their sentences and up to $26.90 per day.
Kim Kardashian Pushes For Incarcerated Firefighters To Be Paid More Amid LA Blazes
Kardashian called incarcerated firefighters "heroes" as she asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to lift wages for those "risking their life to save our lives and homes."
Why Incarcerated Firefighters Are Battling the L.A. Wildfires
As of Friday morning, 939 incarcerated firefighters have been working “around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel behind structures to slow fire spread,” CDCR told TIME in an emailed statement. This includes 110 members of a support staff helping the firefighters.
Incarcerated firefighters join California wildfire battle efforts
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has deployed 931 incarcerated firefighters and 114 support staff through its Fire Camp Program.
California's Reliance on Incarcerated Firefighters Sparks Debate Over Low Pay and Dangerous Work
Hundreds of incarcerated firefighters are risking their lives battling Los Angeles wildfires, raising questions about California’s low wages, tough conditions and post-release hardships.
Incarcerated Firefighters Do Risky, Low-Pay Work. Many Say It’s The Best Job Behind Bars.
More than 900 prison firefighters were responding to the crisis in Los Angeles — but their pay is low and the ethics of their choice are complicated.
Kim Kardashian Advocates for Incarcerated Firefighters Amid the California Wildfires
Aside from previously announced donations to those affected by the wildfires, Kardashian is calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to raise incarcerated firefighters' wages "to a rate [that] honors a human being risking their life to save our lives and homes."
Incarcerated firefighters work to put out LA wildfires
In California, hundreds of incarcerated firefighters are working to put out the fires that have destroyed more than 40,000 acres — an area larger than San Francisco.
Prison Labor in the Spotlight as Incarcerated California Firefighters Risk Lives for $5-10/Day
Around Los Angeles, firefighting crews continue to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires and other smaller blazes. Nearly a ...
Kim Kardashian calls for pay raise for incarcerated firefighters: 'I see them as heroes'
Kim Kardashian is calling for a pay raise for incarcerated firefighters, saying the "heroes" get "paid almost nothing" for ...
‘We Need Everyone’: How Two Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Building a Movement
This story originally published in 2022, but has been updated to reflect the recent fires ravaging neighborhoods across Los ...
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Incarcerated people are fighting California wildfires in long-running and controversial practice
California has turned to incarcerated firefighters since 1915. To those opposed to the use of prisoners as firefighters, the ...
California prisoner firefighter program draws harsh criticism amid L.A. wildfires
Months after Californians voted against an amendment to end inmate servitude, incarcerated firefighters are on the front ...
LA wildfires put a spotlight on the ‘utterly incompetent’ Californian leadership
Newsweek Deputy Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon has slammed the “utterly incompetent” leadership in California.
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Hundreds of California inmates are fighting the Los Angeles fires. Here's how much they get paid
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order to expedite processes for rebuilding homes and clearing debris left ...
California emergency response teams work to contain wildfires
Emergency response teams in California are still trying to contain ferocious wildfires as the death toll has increased to 24.