Kim Kardashian Calls For Higher Pay For Prison Inmate Firefighters Battling L.A. Wildfires Who Earn Just $1 Per Hour

Kim Kardashian, reality star and criminal justice advocate, has spoken out to support Southern California prison inmates who are risking their lives to battle the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

In a statement shared on her Instagram Stories Saturday, Kardashian, 44, demanded higher wages for incarcerated firefighters, who earn as little as $1 an hour for their work alongside the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

“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,” Kardashian wrote. “I see them as heroes.”

Over 1,000 incarcerated men and women have joined the fight against the fires, wearing orange prison jumpsuits and working side by side with professional firefighters. Their tasks include cutting fire lines, clearing vegetation to slow the flames, and performing support roles such as cooking and laundry.

Kardashian highlighted the disparity in pay for incarcerated firefighters: “The incarcerated firefighters have been paid $1/hour to risk their lives, and this pay has been the same since 1984. It has never been raised with inflation or as fires got worse and many died.”

She criticized the recent failure to raise the hourly wage to $5, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to take action. “It’s time to do what no governor has done in four decades: raise the incarcerated firefighter pay to a rate that honors a human being risking their life to save our lives and homes.”

Kardashian also thanked firefighters from the Ventura Training Center, a program for formerly incarcerated individuals who have been trained to continue firefighting professionally. “Thanks to bills passed by the @antirecidivismcoalition, these guys can now get their sentences reduced, expunge felonies from their records, and earn six-figure salaries as firefighters when they come home,” she noted.

The L.A. fires, which began Tuesday, have ravaged over 39,000 acres, displaced more than 200,000 residents, and claimed at least 24 lives. Kardashian’s $60 million Hidden Hills home was among those evacuated due to the Kenneth Fire.

Kardashian, who is trying to become a lawyer, has advised both the Trump and Biden administrations about criminal justice reform.

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