Kim Kardashian is voicing her support for incarcerated firefighters battling the flames in Southern California.
Over the weekend, the 44-year-old reality star praised the more than 900 incarcerated people that are currently fighting the flames while also calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to increase their wages.
Keep reading to find out more…“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,” Kim wrote on her Instagram Story, while thanking Cal Fire and the Los Angeles City Fire departments.
“On all 5 fires in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us,” she continued. “They are on the Palisades fire and Eaton fire in Pasadena working 24 hour shifts. They get paid almost nothing, risk their lives, some have died, to prove to the community that they have changed and are now first responders. I see them as heroes.”
According to The New York Times, inmates who participate in the firefighting program can reduce their sentences and earn “between $5.80 and $10.24 per day” based on skill level, with an additional $1 per hour during “emergencies.”
“The incarcerated firefighters have been paid $1/hour to risk their lives, and this pay has been the same since 1984,” Kim wrote. “It has never been raised with inflation. It’s never been raised when fires got worse and many died. This year there was an agreement to raise the incarcerated firefighter pay to $5/hour, but it got shot down last minute.”
She pleaded, “I am urging Gov. Newsom to do what no Governor has done in 4 decades, and raise the incarcerated firefighter pay to a rate [that] honors a human being risking their live to save our lives and homes.”
“And lastly I want to thank the firefighters from the Cal Fire Ventura Training Center for saving my community when it started burning last week,” Kim concluded. “These are all FORMERLY incarcerated firefighters who have come home, and want to continue serving our community as firefighters. Due to bills passed by Anti-Recidivism Coalition, these guys can now get their sentences reduced, expunging the felonies from their records for their fire service. And when they come home can get six figure jobs working for the fire departments.”
Kim‘s plea comes after her company SKIMS donated clothing and underwear to those affected by the fires and her family donated meals to multiple fire stations.