Bill to Increase Pay Inmate Wildfire Crews To $19 per Hour Passes Asm. Public Safety Committee

A bill that would increase the pay for inmate wildfire hand crews to $19 an hour passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee earlier this week in an 8-0 vote, signaling likely passage later this year.

Assembly Bill 247, authored by Assemblyman Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), would specifically require incarcerated individual hand crew members, in addition to receiving credits, to be paid an hourly wage equal to $19 while assigned to an active fire incident. The bill would also require that wage rate to be updated annually.

Bryan wrote the bill because of the relatively low pay that prisoner fire crews work for  while fighting wildfires. Currently, inmates make between $5.80 to $10.24 an hour, albeit with the added perks of having sentence reductions of 1-2 days for each day fighting fires and hastened expungement of prison records for those wishing to be hired on at fire departments. As over 1,100 prisoners helped extinguish the Southern California fires earlier this year, Bryan said that these prisoners deserved a fair wage for essentially being first responders.

“Everybody who helped save Los Angeles deserves our gratitude and to be compensated fairly for their life-saving work,” said Bryan last month.

“Going into committee with AB 247, we knew we had the votes to pass,” added Bryan this week. “We weren’t sure exactly what the final vote would look like. I’m excited and grateful to my Republican colleagues who have turned this into a bipartisan issue.”

Others said that the higher pay could be another incentive for them to join fire crews in the future as civilians, thus giving both a second chance once out of prison and making sure that the state will have ample fire crews in the coming years. It was further noted that many prisoners would be more likely to join the crews should the prisoners meet the current standards, like not having serious offenses.

Going into committee voting this week, Republicans overwhelmingly sided with Democrats in supporting AB 247, finding a mutual agreeance over paying fire crews more. While there were some in opposition, it didn’t come in the form of being against prisoners getting higher wages outright. In a statement. the California State Sheriffs’ Association said that they were against the bill because counties themselves would have to pay the higher wage, not the state.

On Tuesday, the bill managed to pass with a bipartisan 8-0 in the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Among those voting for the bill was Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) and Assemblyman John Harabedian (D-Sierra Madre). AB 247 is expected to pass both the Assembly and Senate later this year, with members of both parties continuing to affirm approval of the bill.

“The guys out there, they deserve that money for what they’re doing,” former prison wildfire hand crew member Jason Cruz told the Globe on Friday. “And I did a dumb thing that got me arrested and put in prison. Helping put out wildfires though? It was honestly rewarding to do. Everyone going in has a debt to society, and being on the crew made you feel like you were giving back. But it is dangerous work.

“Those guys deserve a decent wage out there. And a lot of us on crews want to get into firefighting when we’re out. We have unique experience and it’s an honest living. But this $19 an hour. We’re getting that once out. That’s a good amount to get started on and rebuild our lives. It’s good to see so many politicians seeing the importance of what these crews do. Yes, they’re prisoners. But they’re putting their lives on the line like everyone else. That deserves fair compensation. It’s good to see this.”