Nearly 800 California Prisoners Battle Huge Los Angeles Wildfires—for About $1 an Hour
As the Santa Ana winds fanned an unprecedented number of wildfires that destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 Los Angeles homes by January 10, 2025, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that firefighting crews included 783 state prisoners. They were drawn from more than 1,800 prisoners held in some 30 “fire camps” around the state.
The prisoners expanded the state’s firefighting response, embedding the prisoners with about 2,000 firefighters from the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire). CDCR said that the prisoners were deployed in “cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread.”
CalFire got quite the deal on their labor, too. Prisoners in fire camps earn $5.80 to $10.24 per day, plus another $1 an hour “when responding to active emergencies,” CDCR said. But that means they may earn only $26.90 over a 24-hour shift, significantly less than the CalFire firefighters working with them who earn $458 to $579 for a 24-hour shift (three times per week).
The largest fire broke out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on January 6, 2025, quickly growing to cover 20,000 acres and destroying multi-million-dollar estates fronting the Pacific Ocean. It was 6% contained four days later. Another fire in Eaton spread over 13,000 acres in the Altadena neighborhood on the city’s east side. CalFire said it was 0% contained, though growth had been “significantly stopped.” A smaller fire between them burned on Sunset Blvd., along with three more blazes north of the city in Lidia, Hurst and Kenneth. So far, 10 deaths had been recorded.
Sources: The Guardian, New York Times
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