L.A. Fires Should Be a Climate Wake-Up Call: 5 Dead, 130K+ Evacuated in Uncontained Apocalypse
Raging wildfires continue to scorch communities across the Los Angeles area, killing at least five people, displacing about 100,000 more and destroying thousands of structures. With firefighters unable to contain much of the blaze, the toll is expected to rise. The wildfires that started Tuesday caught much of the city by surprise, quickly growing into one of the worst fire disasters in Los Angeles history. Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council have come under criticism for cutting the fire department's budget by around 2% last year while the police department saw a funding increase. Nearly 400 incarcerated firefighters are among those who have been deployed to battle the fires. Journalist Sonali Kolhatkar, who evacuated her home to flee the destruction, says it has been "frustrating" to watch the corporate media's coverage of the fires. "No one is talking about climate change in the media," she says. We also speak with journalist John Vaillant, author of _Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World_, who says the L.A. wildfires should be a wake-up call. "This blind — frankly, suicidal — loyalty to the status quo of keeping fossil fuels preeminent in our energy system is creating an increasingly difficult situation and unlivable situation," says Vaillant.
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400 firefighters are in jail? I think they mean inmates are augmenting the number of firefighters. 
You are correct, of course.
Though I hope the inmates received at least SOME training. It's dangerous work.
Much appreciated.
Yes, incarcerated firefighters is the term commonly used. I would hope that you would have as much of an issue with the practice as you do with the terminology.
From Fighting Wildfires to Digging Graves, Incarcerated Workers Face Danger on the Job
Incarcerated people comprise 30 percent of all wildland firefighting crews in California. The firefighters’ job is to clear areas surrounding a wildfire using chainsaws and hand tools, such as axes and rakes, to starve the fire of fuel. The work is as dangerous as it sounds; compared to other firefighters, incarcerated people fighting wildfires are four times more likely to sustain physical injuries—like cuts, bruises, dislocations, and fractures—and eight times more likely to suffer from the effects of smoke inhalation.
...
While incarcerated California firefighters choose to work, many other incarcerated workers are not allowed a choice at all. The 13th Amendment ended slavery in the United States, but a loophole allows people convicted of crimes to be forced to work. In some states, prison officials can force people in their custody to work for nothing. Yet, even in states that do offer pay, like California, the wages offered are often shockingly low. Each year, states extract an estimated $11 billion in goods and services from the labor of incarcerated people who are paid little or nothing, often in unsafe conditions. Sixty-four percent of people working behind bars say that they fear for their safety, and 70 percent say they have not received formal training.
Incarcerated firefighters have some of the highest rates of injury among all prison workers, but they are far from the only people in prisons working incredibly dangerous jobs for meager pay.
https://www.vera.org/news/from-fighting-wildfires-to-digging-graves-incarcerated-workers-face-danger-on-the-job
are being put into the atmosphere from the fires themselves?
