The devastating Camp Fire that has ravaged the town of Paradise, California has earned the title of the deadliest wildfire in California's history. As the Camp Fire is rapidly devouring surrounding lands, other wildfires are quickly developing as flames are spread by strong wind gusts. The multitude of fires occurring within the state leaves it literally burning away from both ends. With more than 46 lives lost in the flames and 216 missing, California's fate lies in the hands of state firefighters and an unlikely ally: inmates.

California has had a history of using inmate labor to battle wildfires that dates to the 1940s. Although inmates must volunteer to participate in the efforts to tame wildfires, controversy has surrounded the practice and its ethics. State firefighters today make between $11 and $64 an hour, while inmate pay can range from 8 cents to $1 an hour if they are trained, and $2 a day if they are not. Inmates and firefighters can spend upwards of 72 hours, on average, volunteering to risk their lives to battle fires. Inmate labor has saved the state more than $90 million a year, and the practice does not seem to be slowing down as California continues to be ravaged by fire more frequently.

California's inmate firefighters have sparked a hot debate over prison labor and its connotations in the modern world. Prisons are known to be a coercive environment; therefore, people are skeptical if inmates truly volunteered or if they were compelled by the state. After all, inmate firefighters make up a third of all firefighting personnel in California. Without them, it's simple to say that firefighters would not stand a chance against the current inferno that is consuming the state.

Despite the 30% progress made in controlling the multiple wildfires, the smoke pollution from the fires in California has traveled across the U.S. and reached Chicago; we can only imagine the sheer magnitude of damage if we didn't have brave men, women, and even juvenile inmates contributing to California's firefighting forces.