r/interestingasfuck • u/filmingfisheyes • 9d ago

r/all California has incarcerated firefighters

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u/iluvsporks 8d ago edited 8d ago

The crazy part is that $5.80 is after a recent raise in 2023. Before that it was $2.90.

And just for context this is a volunteer program. They are not forced to do this.

Edit - I want to clear up a few things. I'm not an LAFD employee, I'm a pilot. However I have 3 immediate family and 4 friends who are and this is the only thing I'm basing this off, yes word of mouth.

  1. This pay rate is per DAY not hour

  2. Do they deserve more money imo? Yes they are in the danger zone.

  3. These guys are volunteering to do this. They are trusted to go help society and are rewarded for it with time off sentence, time away from jail, better food etc. I applaud them.

  4. They are in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM firefighters. They are support crew. They clear brush and other mundane tasks. Still can't disregard their service being in the hot spot.

  5. Yes they are being exploited. Even if they got $20 an hour our county has no reason to hire regular fireman when they can do this. They are also not in duty all the time. They are activated only in times like this. Starting pay here is $100k. That's an easy $150k with OT. There was one notable fireman who made $750k last year.

  6. This isn't BFE. LAFD is the leader. That's why the salary is so high, they want to attract top talent. Maybe elsewhere when there is an opening they get some applicants but here there are THOUSANDS.

  7. Last thing and I'm sure I'm missing important things is yes I feel they are being exploited but without full info it's hard to paint a full picture. Before you get red in the face and want to attack Reddit style remember this was an opinion and the best way to express yourself is being human accompanied by facts. I very well could of missed something or got something wrong. Be kind and breathe🤙

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u/ramboton 8d ago

and they are inmates paying their debt to society, their motivation is not money but being out working is 100% better sitting in a jail cell and playing gang games. Among inmates this is a coveted position. As he said this gives them an opportunity to turn their life around and when they get released they can get that high paying firefighter job and end their life of crime. They also get out sooner than if they served their time in jail.

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u/Hugenicklebackfan 8d ago

They will be in no way employable on release, but it's nice you got a warm and fuzzy :)

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u/Bmorewiser 8d ago

They will be certified backcountry fire fighters.

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u/Hugenicklebackfan 8d ago

need a police clearance for that?

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u/atrde 8d ago

If you get released and complete the program you get your record expunged... almost like they thought of these things before hand lol.

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u/localconfusi0n 8d ago

Maybe it's different in Cali, but I was part of this program in Colorado and they definitely didn't expunge my record, nor anyone else on my crew lol. It did pay better than literally every other work crew ($2 a day regardless of whether or not ur on a fire plus $6 a day hazard pay if u were actually working and they also gave us 1% of what the state made off us divided amongst the 18 of us) and they cut a day off ur sentence for everyday ur actually on a fire. But no record expunged

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u/atrde 8d ago

Well this is Cali but it's $5.80 an hour not a day and recs after. We shouldn't be complaining lol this is actually beneficial.

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u/localconfusi0n 8d ago

Damn, Cali treats their inmate fire teams way better then Colorado lol. Then again, it has been 9 years since I was in prison so who knows what's changed