Along with the professional firefighters who are battling the California wildfires, there are hundreds of low-paid prison inmates taking part in attempting to put them out.
Nearly 950 inmates are removing timber and brush in an attempt to slow the spread of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The corrections department has run the program for more than 100 years.
The Conservation (Fire) Camp Program's goal is to provide able-bodied incarcerated people the opportunity to work on meaningful projects throughout the state.
Inmates provide a needed workforce by having incarcerated people occupy "temporary camps" to augment the regular firefighting forces, the state says.
Crews have been working around the clock in their firefighting efforts.
California Inmates Fighting Fires
California Governor Gavin Newsom visited some of the program's firefighters over the weekend. He signed a law enabling the participants in the program to have more career opportunities and advancement in firefighting roles after their release from incarceration.
CDCR continues to increase the number of incarcerated firefighters assisting @CAL_FIRE in Southern CA. As of Friday morning, 939 Fire Camp firefighters are working to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow fire spread, including 110 support staff. pic.twitter.com/rkQu3hWXMm
— CA Corrections (@CACorrections) January 10, 2025
The practice is controversial as the inmates are paid just $10.24 a day, with $1 more an hour as they work the fires, according to the Associated Press.
Inmates in the program earn two days off of their sentence for every day they work on a fire crew, the New York Times reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the program an "exploitation of incarcerated workers" in a 2022 report. It found that several inmates have died and hundreds wounded, many because of an alleged lack of training.
