As wildfires rage on in Southern California, 783 prisoners so far have pitched in to help with the 2025 efforts. The California Department of Corrections has trained incarcerated volunteers as part of so-called “fire camps” since 1915. These inmates are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, with an additional $1/hour paid during active emergencies. Qualifying crew members must have eight years or less remaining on their sentence and exhibit good behavior behind bars. However, low wages and high risk have led prison activists to question the program as exploitative as inmates were reportedly much more likely to be injured on the job than professional firefighters.
