“I’ve spent the final week watching my metropolis burning,” Kim Kardashian posted on January 12, roughly 5 days after the fires first erupted on January 7. During that point, Kardashian says she’s been talking to “many firefighters who’re up all evening lengthy utilizing each ounce of their energy to avoid wasting our group.”
After thanking the varied Los Angeles hearth departments for his or her efforts to include the flames, which have claimed at the very least 24 lives and compelled 100,000 residents to evacuate their properties, the future lawyer and criminal justice reform advocate identified that there are additionally “a whole lot of incarcerated firefighters risking their lives to avoid wasting us.”
As Kardashian reminded her 358 million followers, inmates may make up nearly a third of firefighters trying to finish the destruction and devastation due to the controversial Conservation (Fire) Camp Program—a partnership between California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), CAL FIRE, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD).
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As of January 13, The Hill reviews that 931 incarcerated firefighters have joined the efforts in California. According to Time magazine, inmates who take part in this system can scale back their sentences and earn “between $5.80 and $10.24 per day” based mostly on talent degree, with a further $1 per hour throughout “emergencies.” Even that pay-scale is comparatively new, because the charges had been doubled in 2023.
Per the Time report, inmate firefighters are greater than 4 instances as more likely to be be injured on the job than skilled firefighters and greater than eight instances as more likely to retain accidents associated to smoke inhalation.
