Incarcerated firefighters in California, many of whom have helped battle the blazes that have ripped through Los Angeles County since last week, could see their pay — which is far below the state’s minimum wage — increase if a bill introduced this week becomes law.
Inmates who voluntarily sign up for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Conservation (Fire) Camp Program and work as firefighters get paid $5.80 to $10.24 per day, receiving an extra $1 per hour when responding to an active emergency. Inmates at the lowest end of the pay scale earn $29.80 a day during an active emergency, according to the corrections department.
“Incarcerated firefighters are on the frontlines saving lives. They are heroes just like everybody else on the frontlines, and they deserve to be paid like it,” Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement.
Under Bryan’s proposed AB 247, a set hourly wage is not explicit. Instead, it says inmate firefighters would be paid “an hourly wage equal to the lowest nonincarcerated firefighter wage in the State of California for the time that they are actively fighting a fire.”
Talks of increasing pay for incarcerated firefighters come two months after California voters rejected Proposition 6, which would have banned involuntary servitude or forced labor in prison, where inmates are paid little to nothing.
Those who volunteer for the state’s inmate firefighters program are trained to carry out fire suppression efforts, including reducing vegetation that can fuel wildfires, and can be sent to active wildfires in an emergency.
Program participants can shave time off their sentences by receiving credit for days worked.
To qualify for the program, inmates must be in the lowest prison security classification, have eight years or less remaining on their sentence and can’t be in prison for violent crimes or have a history of escaping custody or committing arson. These firefighters are supervised by Cal Fire captains while working a wildfire.
Over 1,100 incarcerated firefighters have assisted in the firefighting efforts in L.A. County, according to the state’s corrections department.
CDRC officials last week reported that inmate crews worked “around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow the fire spread.”
This week, state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Glendale, posted on Instagram photos of her meeting with firefighters.
“These California inmates are risking their lives, working long hours in dangerous conditions, while being paid as little as $10.24 a day,” the senator’s caption said. “The work they do is a God send to other agencies who are experiencing staffing challenges and need the additional firefighters.”
On Wednesday, after Bryan introduced his bill, Renée Pérez said in an emailed statement from her office that these firefighters “deserve fair compensation.”
“I look forward to evaluating any proposal that would properly recognize their contributions in fighting these devastating wildfires,” she said.
The role of incarcerated firefighters in helping put out the Palisades and Eaton fires and other blazes that have ravaged L.A. County has also caught the attention of some celebrities. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, for example, urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase their pay, calling them “heroes” in a series of posts to her Instagram this week.
Bryan’s bill has not yet been assigned to a committee.