Kim Kardashian demands Gov. Newsom give prisoner firefighters a raise
As Southern California continues to burn, everyone is looking for someone to blame for this terrible moment in history. While we can’t point fingers directly at local and state governments for causing the fire, we can question their response to the calamity that has claimed lives, homes, treasured state forests, and billions of dollars in structures.
The one thing keeping many Angelenos safe from total destruction are the brave fire fighters, many of whom are incarcerated people who are making about $1 a day. No matter how you look at it, that’s not enough money to risk your life.
Leading the charge against Governor Newsom’s low prisoner wages is none other than Kim Kardashian. On Saturday, she took to Instagram to urge Governor Newsom to increase the hourly wage of firefighter pay. She wrote:
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. On all 5 fires in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us.
As of this reporting, there are more than 900 prisoners battling the fires that are destroying Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.
Kardashian continued:
I am urging @cagovernor 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 life to save our lives and homes.
In her post, Kardashian refrained from stating whether or not she was donating to Cal Fire or any of the myriad of Go Fund Me donation pages that have opened in the wake of these devastating fires.
The fires in Southern California have destroyed more than 40,000 acres, more than half of which spreads across the Pacific Palisades and the Pacific Coast Highway. As of Monday morning, only 13 percent of the Palisades fire has been contained, while the Eaton Canyon fire has ripped through more than 14,000 acres in Altadena and Pasadena.
