every one of them is a volunteer....California couldn't afford to pay that many real firefighters. Inmate firefighters save California Billions of $$$ each year in labor and fire damage costs.
And lives. Like jj said 1000 inmate firefighters and that includes about 300-400 female firefighters. Like he said they are volunteers, a day worked is a day off their sentence, they have the training and the experience they gain every year. If any of these guys are exceptional at their job, once they get off parole they can interview to be hired by CAL FIRE. A couple years ago I met a CAL FIRE Battalion Chief who was an inmate 25-years prior. With all this extra help fighting fires during fire season, you still see fire trucks on the freeway coming to help out from Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Nevada. So it’s a good thing. The Prison I retired from had a fire station with inmate firefighters and one day our vanpool was going home west on i10 and there was a SUV that rolled over and inmate firefighters were pulling out bodies and performing CPR and other life saving measures. Anyone in or near this state, a few years ago, might remember i10 east washing out due to flash flooding and one of the bridge overpasses collapsed. A C/O buddy of mine drove right over it on his way home. A 20-30 foot drop, broken legs and both hips shattered...inmate firefighters repelled down into the rushing water and got him out.
