Kim Kardashian is calling attention to the many incarcerated firefighters who are battling the flames that have overtaken Los Angeles, praising those on the front lines and urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase their wages.
Over the weekend, as the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire have burned a collective 37,000 acres since springing up Jan. 7, the American Horror Story: Delicate actress posted a video from the nonprofit Anti-Recidivism Coalition featuring some of the 800 incarcerated people currently pushing back against the blaze.
The media personality and entrepreneur continued in her Instagram Story, beginning a multi-post statement with praise for first responders. “I have spent the last week watching my city burning. And have seen and spoken to many firefighters who are up all night long using every ounce of their strength to save our community,” she wrote, thanking Cal Fire.
She continued, turning her attention to incarcerated firefighters: “On all 5 fires in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us. They are on the Palisades fire and Eaton fire in Pasadena working 24 hour shifts. They get paid almost nothing, risk their lives, some have died, to prove to the community that they have changed and are now first responders. I see them as heroes.” (Currently, identifications on all 16 deaths from the combined fires have not been released, and the number of fatalities is expected to rise upon official surveilling of the damage and further investigation.)
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As noted by Kardashian and reporting by the New York Times, incarcerated firefighters are capped at $10.24 per day, plus an additional $1 an hour paid by Cal Fire during emergencies, according to the corrections department. Per new regulations passed in April of last year, the lowest-grade incarcerated firefighter can make as little as $5.80 a day. Previous decades-old regulations had the daily salary range from $2.90 to $5.13, per KQED. Historically, incarcerated firefighters have made up as much as 30% of the California wildfire force.
For incarcerated people, firefighting is considered among the most desirable of jobs, according to the Marshall Project, though inmates have been vocal about the experience being at once rewarding and convoluted ethically, as involuntary servitude is legal as punishment for a crime per the U.S. and California constitutions. In the 2024 presidential election, California voters had the opportunity to remove this provision of forced labor in prisons, but 53.3% voted in favor of keeping the status quo, rejecting Prop 6. While legislation has been passed to make it easier for former fire crew members to get their records expunged and get firefighting jobs, the process is still difficult and time-consuming.
“I am urging @cagovernor to do what no Governor has done in 4 decades, and raise the incarcerated firefighter pay to a rate the [sic] honors a human being risking their life to save our lives and homes,” Kardashian urged.
The SKIMS founder concluded, “And lastly I want to thank the firefighters from the @calfire Ventura Training Center for saving my community when it started burning this week. These are all FORMERLY incarcerated firefighters who have come home, and want to continue serving our community as firefighters. Due to bills passed by @antirecidivismcoalition, these guys can now get their sentences reduced, expunging the felonies from their records for their fire service. And when they come home can get six figure jobs working for the fire departments.”
Kardashian was referencing the Kenneth Fire that sprouted Jan. 9 and has since been largely contained at 80%.
This isn’t the first time Kardashian has been vocal on social justice issues. As reported previously, she is continuing on her law school journey and most recently met with Erik and Lyle Menéndez in prison, praising former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón‘s resentencing recommendation. (That hearing has been pushed to the end of the month, with new DA Nathan Hochman stepping in.)
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