(NewsNation) — Thousands of first responders are fighting the flames as wildfires continue scorching the Los Angeles area.
Along with agencies such as the Los Angeles Fire Department, the California National Guard and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, currently incarcerated people are helping out in the emergency response. In addition, some people and businesses have hired private firefighters to protect their property.
Other states such as Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Idaho and New Mexico are assisting California. Mexican emergency crews and Canadian aircraft have been sent over the border to help as well.
Inmates fighting LA wildfires
Incarcerated firefighters make $10.24 a day, and they get an extra dollar for each hour they’ve responded to a blaze. That means, for a 24-hour shift, an inmate with the lowest skill level could make almost $27 a day.
This is lower than minimum wage and the rate Cal Fire gives its nonincarcerated seasonal firefighters. Those firefighters make a base salary of $3,700 to $4,600 a month.
California has nearly 1,000 inmates pitching in. Incarcerated people who want to participate in the program have to volunteer. To be eligible, they must have eight years or less remaining on their sentence. Convictions involving sex offenses or arson, as well as a history of escapes, will disqualify them from the program.
Inmates can have two days taken off their sentences for every day they serve in a fire crew.
Calls are growing for the incarcerated crews to earn more. Kim Kardashian recently said in an Instagram story that the “hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us” get paid almost nothing, and urged California Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase their wages.
“We never know who we’re going to need,” Sam Lewis, executive director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, said. “When people go to prison or jail, we forget about them, we throw them away, and we assume that they may not have value as a society. That’s not true. People are resilient. People can change, and we should always want to be able to give a person a second or third chance to be able to become the best version of themselves.”
Private firefighters
Meanwhile, private crews are being paid as much as $2,000 an hour to protect residences and businesses in Los Angeles County. The National Wildfire Suppression Association represents over 300 private wildland fire service contractors.
Many are contracted by insurance companies to protect the homes of those they provide policies for. Industrial corporations, such as those that work in oil, gas or vineyards, hire private crews to safeguard their property and manage potential fire risks.
Private fire crews bring their own water supply and are typically armed with their own hoses, blocking gel and supplies.
Cal Fire says the for-hire contractors aren’t on the front lines and are not getting in the way of its critical work.
“Corporations are welcome to hire their own firefighters to protect their facilities, whether it’s on a facility property, or if it’s a series of stands or poles,” David Acuna, of Cal Fire, said. “Or if a private homeowner wants to have the insurance company hire them, of course, we’re not going to stop that, but we cannot and will not delegate to private firefighters the operations that we need to have complex coordination with.”
California legislators passed a law in 2018 to regulate private firefighting. It requires them to coordinate with public fire agencies and prohibits them from using emergency lights or sirens.
LA wildfire aid from other countries
Mexico has sent 72 firefighters and emergency personnel to California. They were transported to a mobile station for a safety orientation before being dispatched on Monday.
“Emergencies have no borders — we are deeply grateful to our neighbors in Mexico for their unwavering support during one of our greatest times of need,” Newsom said according to NewsNation local affiliate KTLA. “Thank you to President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo for lending the best of the best.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dispatched aerial firefighting aircraft to California as well. He said Canada is “always here to help our American friends.”
