California’s Inmate Firefighters Can Now Become Professionals Once They’re Free

Wildfires have been burning across the west, plunging California and other nearby states into crises.

6 of the twenty largest fires California has ever seen have taken place this year, with Cal Fire putting the August Complex Fire at the very top of its list.

And, sadly, the fires are showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

CNN reported that there are currently forty large fires burning across California, Oregon, and Washington after extreme heat and high winds spurred on the flames.

And more than 2 million acres have burned in California this year alone.

Giving us a perfect, yet harrowing insight into the magnitude of these fires.

And they are nothing like we have ever seen before.

The skies of America have turned blood red.

And it is making many of us ask the question – how on earth has this been allowed to happen?!

While some of these fires were started as a result of natural causes, the majority are sadly man-made.

The El Dorado Fire, which has grown to more than 10,000 acres, was ignited when a family used a “pyrotechnic device” for a flamboyant gender reveal.

Which became so bad that it could even be seen from satellites in space.

California Governor, Gavin Newsom, was forced to declare a state of emergency in 5 counties.

Like driving a car that sends soot into dry vegetation, as was the case with the Apple Fire in Southern California this year.

Which may spark and ignite fires in remote – and highly flammable – areas.

And, as the days roll by, more and more photos from the blazes have been emerging from panicked residents across the country.

Giving the state an eerie, post-apocalyptical aesthetic.

There are currently 102 active fires that have burned millions of acres in twelve states across Alaska and the West.

So far it has burned a huge 471,185 acres and is only twenty-four percent contained.

He said an airplane with “infrared capabilities that measure the size of the blaze” wasn’t able to record the fires, as it was out of service.

The larger parts of the fire just keep getting bigger.

Just one day after declaring a state of emergency in California’s Siskiyou County, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Friday.

In which prisoners are trained and put to work as underpaid firefighters to increase existing professional teams.

Those incarcerated peoples who have served as firefighters will now be able to apply for full-time careers as emergency workers without having a criminal record to divulge.

“I think that after seeing all these young men and women stand side by side with our other fire crews and knowing that they had no hope of entering that profession, I knew that it was wrong and that we needed to do something about it,” Reyes told NBC before Newsom signed her bill into law.

The majority of whom are fire line-qualified, according to Reyes bill. “Inmates who have stood on the frontlines, battling historic fires should not be denied the right to later become a professional firefighter,” Newsom said in a statement alongside his bill signing.

And could be extremely beneficial in times like these.

For more on the gender reveal party that triggered one of the largest blazes, keep scrolling…