Kim Kardashian Praises Incarcerated Firefighters Fighting LA Flames

Kim Kardashian is using its massive platform to highlight a relatively unknown group of firefighters battling the devastating Los Angeles is on fire.

“I have spent the last week watching my city burn. And have seen and spoken to many firefighters who are up all night using every ounce of their strength to save our community,” Kardashian, 44, said in a series of posts shared 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, homes, property,” he added.

Kardashian then went on to praise the firefighters who were imprisoned battling the flames. (According to a recent report by The New York Timesat least 900 inmates are currently fighting the historic fires in and around the greater Los Angeles area.)

“On all 5 fires in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us,” Kardashian explained. “They are on the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire and the Pasadena Fire working 24-hour shifts. They are paid almost nothing, risk their lives, some have died, to prove to the community that they have changed and are now first responders. I see them as heroes.”

According to the California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationFirefighters jailed in the area are “working to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow the spread of the fire,” as reported by The New York Times. “Their presence provides much-needed manpower to depleted fire crews,” the outlet writes.

“The incarcerated firefighters have been paid $1 an hour to risk their lives and this pay has been the same since 1984,” Kardashian continues in her Instagram Stories. “It has never been raised with inflation. It has never happened when fires got worse and many (firefighters) died. This year there was an agreement to raise the wages of incarcerated firefighters to $5 an hour, but it was shot down at the last minute.”

Kardashian, who is also known for her prison reform advocacy work, then urged California Governor Gavin Newsom to increase the pay that incarcerated firefighters receive while fighting wildfires.

“I urge @cagovernor to do what no Governor has done in 4 decades, and raise the pay of the incarcerated firefighters to a rate that honors a human being risking his life to save our lives and our homes,” he wrote.

At least 16 people have lost their lives as a result of the five wildfires that burned around LA, according to local officials. Back NBC Newsthe fires have burned through at least 37,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

A number of Hollywood celebrities – oh Milo Ventimiglia a Anthony Hopkinsrum Eugene levy a Paris Hilton – have lost their homes.

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

“These are all previously incarcerated firefighters who have come home and want to continue serving our communities as firefighters,” he continued. “Because of bills passed by @antirecidivismcoalition, these men can now have their sentences reduced, removing the felons from their records for their fire service. And when they come home they can get six figure jobs working for the fire departments. “

Check the LAFD website for local wildfire warnings and click here for resources on how to help those affected.