Inmate firefighters join the fight against wildfires in the Los Angeles area

Over 1,100 California prisoners have worked around the clock in challenging conditions — including howling winds and toxic smoke — to help Cal Fire battle the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires, the largest and most destructive of about a half-dozen fires that burned in the Los Angeles area in the past two weeks.

According to Associated Press they’re doing it for the chance to cut time off their sentences, to get outside the prison walls and for training that might help them land a job once they’re out.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, along with the state’s forestry department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department operate 35 “fire camps” where inmates become certified wildland firefighters.

When deployed, those firefighters earn from $5.80 to $10.24 a day, depending on experience, and an extra $1 an hour during a active wildfires, according to the corrections department. That means the lowest-paid firefighters earn $29.80 per 24-hour shift.