{"id":26502,"date":"2025-01-11T07:13:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T07:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=26502"},"modified":"2025-01-11T07:13:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T07:13:24","slug":"hundreds-of-california-prison-inmates-fight-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2025\/01\/hundreds-of-california-prison-inmates-fight-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of California prison inmates fight wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1,000 incarcerated men and women have joined the frontlines in a battle against record-breaking wildfires burning across southern California.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number deployed – now 939 – are part of a long-running volunteer programme led by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).<\/p>\n

Their numbers have steadily increased since Tuesday, the day the deadly fires began spreading uncontrollably through Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Over 10,000 structures have been destroyed and 37,000 acres burned, as thousands of emergency workers descend on the Los Angeles area to fight the flames, reported BBC.<\/p>\n

At least 11 people have been killed in the wildfires, officials said.<\/p>\n

The incarcerated firefighters have been drawn from among the 35 conservation fire camps run by the state, minimum-security facilities where inmates serve their time and receive training. Two of the camps are for incarcerated women.<\/p>\n

The 900-plus incarcerated firefighters in use account for roughly half of the 1,870 prisoner-firefighters in the scheme.<\/p>\n

In the field, they can be seen in prison-orange jumpsuits embedded alongside members of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).<\/p>\n

The incarcerated firefighters have been working “around the clock cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread”, CDCR told the BBC in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

The state pays inmates a daily wage between $5.80 and $10.24 (\u00a34.75 and \u00a38.38), and an additional $1 per day when assigned to active emergencies.<\/p>\n

Those wages are a fraction of the salaries received by citizen firefighters in California, who can earn upwards of $100,000 annually.<\/p>\n

Camp participants can also earn time credits that help reduce their prison sentences, CDRC said.<\/p>\n

Inmates convicted of crimes categorised as “serious” or “violent” felonies are not eligible to participate.<\/p>\n

After incarcerated firefighters are released from prison – having been trained by the state – many try to get hired as citizen firefighters, but are denied, Royal Ramey, a former incarcerated firefighter and co-founder of the non-profit Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program (FFRP), told the BBC.<\/p>\n

There are currently five wildfires burning through billions of dollars worth of structures in the Los Angeles area, predicted to be one of the most expensive in history.<\/p>\n

Strained for resources, the state has called on over 7,500 emergency personnel and first responders, including the state and National Guard and firefighters from as far away as Canada.<\/p>\n

The fires have still been difficult to contain and continue to spread, with 35,000 acres from the two largest fires, Palisades and Eaton, already burned.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1,000 incarcerated men and women have joined the frontlines in a battle against record-breaking wildfires burning across southern California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":26503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,984,194,30,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news","category-world","category-environment","category-headline"],"views":59,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26504,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26502\/revisions\/26504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}