Reality star Kim Kardashian is once again using her social influence and platform to call on California state legislators to increase pay for incarcerated firefighters, many of whom helped put out blazes during the January wildfires in Los Angeles County.
“The world watched California’s incarcerated firefighters working 24 hour shifts and saving homes, lives and communities during the Los Angeles fires, the Park Fire in Northern California and hundreds of other fires this fire season. … Now our California legislature gets to decide how to honor their lifesaving efforts with a fair wage that appreciates the danger and importance of this work,” Kardashian wrote over two Instagram posts on Monday, March 17.
She went on to thank Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, for introducing a bill that proposes to increase the pay of inmate firefighters to $19 an hour during emergencies when they are fighting active fires.
Inmates who voluntarily sign up for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Conservation (Fire) Camp Program and work as firefighters currently get paid $5.80 to $10.24 per day, plus 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.
Under AB 247, which was recently amended, inmates working an active fire — who could be assigned to 24-hour shifts — would get paid $19 an hour. The hourly wage would be updated annually. (The original version of this bill did not have a specific dollar amount set, but rather said 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.”)
“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,” Bryan said in January, when he first introduced his bill.
Those who volunteer for the state’s inmate firefighters program are trained to carry out fire suppression efforts, including removing vegetation that can fuel wildfires, and can be sent to active wildfires in an emergency.
Over 1,100 incarcerated firefighters assisted in the firefighting efforts in L.A. County two months ago, according to the state’s corrections department.
Supporters of the bill have referred to these firefighters as “heroes.”
But the California State Sheriff’s Association, which opposes the bill, said the legislation could put financial pressures on counties and noted that inmate firefighters get extra credit for time served, thus allowing them to be released from prison earlier, as part of the deal for participating in the firefighting program.
“We recognize the contribution made by inmate firefighters and in return for their service, these inmates earn very generous early release credits that reduce their sentences,” the California State Sheriff’s Association said in a written comment included in the bill analysis for AB 237.
“Every day served in this role earns two additional days of credit, meaning an inmate would only serve one-third of their sentence for the time they qualify,” the sheriff’s association wrote.
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.
Monday was not the first time Kardashian has raised awareness about inmate firefighters’ pay. She did the same in a series of posts in January when she asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase the pay for such firefighters.
On Tuesday, Bryan said in a statement that Kardashian and other celebrities have visited incarcerated firefighters during the height of the L.A. wildfires.
“Their commitment to justice and fundamental fairness is the same commitment the legislature is expressing on this issue,” Bryan said. “With unanimous bipartisan support thus far, we are committed to doing what is right and paying all of the heroes from the fire-line who stepped up when we needed them.”
AB 237 advanced out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee last week and is waiting to be heard by the lower house’s Appropriations Committee.
The total fiscal impact of the bill, if adopted, is not yet known.