California depends on 3,100 inmates to help work the fire lines during wildfires. But due to Covid19 only 1,306 inmates are currently deployed. Typically non-violent offenders are moved to the Conservation Camp Program which includes 43 facilities.

This year the numbers are lower because many inmates (5,627 as of July 1) have been released directly to their communities.

For more than 70 years CalFire has provided an “opportunity” for those incarcerated to “work” on the front lines.

Inmate firefighters earn between $2.90 and $5.12 per day, with an additional $1 per hour when they are on the fires lines. They get one or two days off their sentence for each day worked, depending on which crew they work. They normally work 24 hours shifts, sometimes as long as 48 hours. They carry 60-pound packs and three-foot chain saws.