Kim Kardashian, who is increasingly using her celebrity to advocate for criminal justice reform, is calling for higher pay for firefighters imprisoned in California fighting deadly blazes in Los Angeles.
As Palisades, Eaton and other fires continue to burn the region, the reality star-turned-beauty mogul is on the front lines of the historic firestorm that has already claimed 25 lives, destroyed thousands of structures and left dozens homeless. He praised the incarcerated firefighters. Thousands of people.
Kardashian, the daughter of aspiring lawyer and one-time OJ Simpson defender Robert Kardashian, has used her platform to highlight the plight of incarcerated firefighters and advocate for higher wages.
Inmates at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation make up about 30% of California’s wildfire fighting force in any given year and earn as little as $26.90 for a 24-hour shift, the Times reports. more More than 900 of them It helped put out wildfires that swept through Southern California last week.
The ‘Kardashians’ star took to Instagram on Saturday to explain how hundreds of firefighters are working 24-hour shifts, ‘risking their lives to save us’ and ‘barely getting paid’ while risking their lives or dying to save us. He mentioned that he was risking his life. The communities they transformed are now first responders.
“I see them as heroes,” she wrote in a post to her 358 million followers.
But the reality star lamented that firefighters are paid $1 an hour, which she said has been the same since 1984. CDCR websiteIncarcerated firefighters typically earn between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, and during wildfire season they can make more than $26 per day. You can get an extra $1 per hour from Cal Fire when responding to an emergency.
“It has never been raised due to inflation. “This issue was never raised when the fires got worse and many people died.” Kardashian lamented that one proposal for a pay rise “was canceled at the last minute.”
“I urge @cagovernor (Gavin Newsom) to do what no governor has done in 40 years and increase incarcerated firefighter pay to a level that honors the human beings who risk their lives to save our lives and homes.” she wrote.
Kardashian also thanked California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention firefighters at the Ventura Training Center for saving her community last week when the Kenneth Fire threatened her Hidden Hills home and forced her and her reality TV family to evacuate.
“These are all formerly incarcerated firefighters who want to come home and continue serving our communities as firefighters. Thanks to legislation passed by the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, these people can now reduce their sentences and have felonies expunged from their fire department records. And when they come home, they can get a six-figure job working in the fire department,” she wrote.
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, an LA-based nonprofit dedicated to ending mass incarceration, We started our fundraiser on Friday To support firefighters in California prisons. Sam Lewis, the coalition’s executive director, said it had already raised more than $40,000 by Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, private firefighters hired by homeowners have been criticized for widening class distinctions during disasters. This week, a Pacific Palisades homeowner faced a digital storm when he asked user X for help finding a personal firefighter who could save his home. For reference, Kardashian and her husband at the time, Kanye West, Private firefighter recognition In 2018, he saved a $60 million home in the Santa Monica Mountains from wildfires. Kardashian’s critics were quick to point out that despite her advocacy, she faced criticism for drought violations by exceeding her home’s allotted water budget by 232,000 gallons in 2022. (The issue surfaced again this week, and when her sister Khloé Kardashian blasted LA Mayor Karen Bass over budget cuts, her frustration was further highlighted when the city’s fire chief blamed a lack of preparation.)
The Marshall Project and other prison reform groups said last week that the working conditions of incarcerated firefighters shocked social media, reopening the debate over forced and involuntary servitude permitted under the California Constitution and as a ballot measure last November. We supported them and emphasized their plight. election.
Last week, CDCR Executive Director Jeff Macomber said incarcerated workers were an “essential” part of the state’s fire response. Firefighters often do manual work, using hand tools to clear vegetation and create fire lines that slow the spread of wildfires, while tasks such as operating fire hoses or spraying flame retardants are left to professional firefighters, the Times reported. However, it is not uncommon for professional and incarcerated firefighters to perform hard physical labor and work 24-hour shifts during emergencies.
Former firefighter Matthew Hahn has gone viral with a series of threads about his former working conditions in an effort to combat misinformation about the state’s firefighter program.
His comments about pay largely echoed Kardashian’s, although he did point out that incarcerated firefighters receive additional time service credit and are paroled earlier. Like Kardashian, he noted that he is eligible to have his criminal record expunged.
“(Wildlands) firefighting is one of the few voluntary work assignments in the California prison system, and is voluntary in the sense that you will not be sent to a fire camp unless requested and/or agreed to,” he wrote.
“(I)ncarcerated wildland firefighters who have lived in a firehouse for some time typically receive a significant amount of parole compared to other inmates in California,” he wrote. “(T)hey eat good, plentiful food in their standard diet… (and) they gain a sense of purpose to do something worthwhile.”
times reporterS Keri Blakinger and Ruben Vives contributed to this report.
