California’s recent fires have garnered the attention of people nationwide but not just because of their destructiveness. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) continues to work in containing the Palisades and Eaton fires with many people grappling with losing their homes, dangerous air pollution, and a death toll of 27 people.
Among the heroes putting out these fires are incarcerated individuals, including youth, putting their lives on the line 24 hours a day to contain the fires. There are currently 43 conservation camps in California where inmates train to fight fires with one of them being Pine Grove, a facility of the California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Young males from ages 17-24 reside at Pine Grove and can begin formally training to contain and prevent California fires as soon as they turn 18 years old. 95% of youth in the camp are Black, Latine, or Filipino. While the program may energize incarcerated youth in some aspects, they work 24 hours shifts and are paid as low as $2.90 to $5.12 per day, with an additional $1 per hour when fighting fires.
A recently proposed California amendment would have ended slavery and involuntary servitude, including in the case of punishment, but unfortunately the amendment did not receive enough votes. Upon release, the volunteer firefighters can participate in the Firefighter Training and Certification Program in Ventura County. Established in 2018, the program gives advanced firefighter training to formerly incarcerated men. Despite the firefighter labor shortage, many formerly incarcerated men still struggle to find employment within LAFD as a result of their record. The labor of incarcerated people fighting the fires does not only go unappreciated but many people are not even aware that they are endangering their lives to protect their homes.
Also helping contain the fires are Mexican firefighters sent by President Sheinbaum. Despite the anti-immigrant rhetoric President Trump has been spewing, Sheinbaum’s action affirms the binational relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. Migrant day laborers also formed a fire relief brigade to help clean up the streets of Pasadena. Despite many of them also having to evacuate with their families, they volunteered to help clear debris amidst the dangerous air quality and despite Trump’s threats of mass deportations against them.
Unfortunately, a shortage of firefighters is not the only concern of Angelenos. There is a shortage of water to fight fires due to the greed of the billionaire couple, Lynda and Stewart Resnick. They are the owners of “The Wonderful Company” that produces pistachios, Fiji water, Pom pomegranate juice and more. In 1994, the Resnicks along with other private corporations and public agencies sold out Angelenos by creating new California water laws known as The Monterey Plus Agreement or The Monterey Amendments. Previously, California laws prioritized water access to urban areas especially in times of drought but the Monterey Amendments dictated that in times of drought, the public would have to buy water from private companies, like “The Wonderful Company”.
The labor and water shortage was exacerbated by LA Mayor Karen Bass’s decision to cut $17.4 million of the LAFD 2025 budget ($819.64 million). Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department holds 15% of the city’s budget, a total of $1.98 billion. As fires become more common and destructive in California, the budget cut to the LAFD should have been the last decision to come to.
The public has tried to defend itself and has even come together to help clean up and rebuild in recent days. But while everyday people fled their homes, prepared to lose all their belongings, the ultra-wealthy were hiring private firefighters to protect their homes. The Capstone Fire Agency is one of the private firefighting agencies contracted by the rich to put out the fires of their homes, although they claim to only be preventative and simply part of insurance companies. Working class people who lost their homes are also facing rent gouging from greedy landlords. Many who also lost days of work due to the fires also worry they will face harassment from their landlords for not being able to pay their rent on time.
Big media tries to distract the public by forcing our sympathy onto our favorite celebrities or by dismissing the fires because only the rich were impacted. The reality is that working class people lost their generational homes that they fought so hard to have. California’s fires will only continue to intensify, as will other climate disasters. While the rich help themselves out, working class communities must unite across races and regions to prepare for the next climate – and political – disasters.
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