In any given year, as many as 30 percent of the state’s wildfire firefighters earn as little as $26.90 for a 24-hour shift. That’s because they are California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmates, and more than 900 of them Helping put out the wildfires that ravaged Southern California this week.
Firefighting is a coveted job in prisons. But the fires now threatening Los Angeles have reignited debate over the state’s reliance on low-wage inmate labor — and on some social media sites, people are asking how they can help.
The Los Angeles-based Anti-Recidivism Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to ending mass incarceration, Fundraiser kicks off Friday Support California prison firefighters. By Saturday morning, they had made more than $40,000, according to their executive director, Sam Lewis.
Lewis said some of the funds will be used to purchase necessities that incarcerated firefighters say they need, such as new boots, toiletries and other gear.
“Whatever they need, we’ll buy it,” he told The Times. “We ordered 40 pairs of boots today.”
With the money left over after the fire, Lewis plans to provide scholarships to formerly incarcerated firefighters or distribute them to commissary accounts for individual inmates.
ARC was founded by Hollywood producer Scott Budnick, who is leading this week’s fundraising efforts. Grove, the other is located in Georgetown).
Amika Mota, who was released in 2015 and worked as a firefighter at California’s Chowchilla prison, said inmates do a lot of preventive and protective work in the event of a major fire, such as clearing brush or mowing Remove gaps in vegetation to slow the spread of fire.
“But they can definitely also be used as ‘active nozzles’ to put out fires,” she told The Times. “It depends.”
Outside of wildfire season, their duties include fighting structure fires and responding to overdoses and vehicle collisions, she said.
In recent years, prison reform and the COVID-19 pandemic have Narrowed the number of eligible inmates. In 2005, there were 4,250 firefighters in prisons. By last summer, there were fewer than 1,800 refugees in 35 conservation (firefighting) camps across the state.
Last year’s proposed budget cuts would Closing five encampments in Los Angeles CountyHowever, the governor later removed the camps from the cuts list after local leaders raised concerns.
While they can make more than $26 a day during wildfire season, According to the CDCR website Inmate firefighters typically earn between $5.80 and $10.24 per day. They also receive $1 an hour from Cal Fire when they respond to active emergencies.
Even so, firefighting remains one of the highest-paying jobs in prisons, and it also offers eligible inmates the chance to reduce their sentences.
“Every firefighter out there right now, I’m sure they’re proud to be there,” Motta said. “But every single one of these people signed away their right to any form of compensation if they died on the fireground.”
Anyone interested in supporting incarcerated firefighters can visit the ARC website and write “Firefighter Fund” on their donation.
Marshall Project staff writers Jamiles Lartey and Shannon Heffernan Contribute to this report.
