Kim Kardashian praises incarcerated firefighters battling Los Angeles blaze

Kim Kardashian is using its massive platform to bring attention to a relatively unknown and forgotten group of firefighters fighting the devastating Fires in Los Angeles.

“For the past week, I have watched my city burn. And I’ve seen and talked to many firefighters who have been up all night trying to save our community,” Kardashian, 44, said in a series of posts via Instagram Stories on Saturday, January 11.

“Thank you @calfire la County Fire and Los Angeles City Fire for all you do to save lives and property,” she added.

Kardashian then praised the inmate firefighters battling the blaze. (According to a recent report from The New York Times(at least 900 inmates are currently battling historic fires in and around Los Angeles.)

“All 5 fires in Los Angeles have hundreds of incarcerated firefighters risking their lives to save us,” Kardashian explained. “They are working around the clock at the Palisades, Eaton and Pasadena fires. They are paid almost nothing, risk their lives, some died to prove to society that they have changed and are now the first. I see them as heroes.”

According to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Californiainmate firefighters in the area are “working to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow the fire’s spread,” according to The New York Times. “Their presence provides much-needed manpower to exhausted fire crews,” the publication writes.

“Incarcerated firefighters were paid $1 an hour for risking their lives, the first payment since 1984,” Kardashian continued on her Instagram stories. “It never rose with inflation. It never went up when the fires got worse and many (firefighters) died. This year there was an agreement to raise the pay of inmate firefighters to $5 an hour, but it was shot down at the last minute.”

Kardashian, who is also known for her advocacy for prison reform, then called on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase the pay for incarcerated firefighters fighting wildfires.

“I’m calling on @cagovernor to do what no governor has done in 4 decades and raise the pay of incarcerated firefighters to a rate that honors the man who puts his life on the line to save our lives and homes,” she wrote.

At least 16 people have died as a result of five wildfires around Los Angeles, according to local authorities. According to NBC Newsthe fires burned at least 37,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 buildings.

A number of Hollywood celebrities — from Milo Ventimiglia and Anthony Hopkinsfrom to Evgeny Levy and Paris Hilton – lost their homes.

In her post Saturday, Kardashian also thanked the “firefighters at @calfire Ventura Training Center for saving my community when it burned this week.”

“These are all formerly incarcerated firefighters who have returned home and want to continue serving our communities as firefighters,” she continued. “Because of bills passed by the @antirecidivismcoalition, these guys can now get reduced sentences by expunging felonies from their fire service records. And when they come home, they can get six-figure jobs working in the fire service.”

Check it out LAFD website for local forest fire alerts and click here resources on how to help victims.