Rich Pedroncelli, American
Inmate firefighters build a containment line ahead of the Butte Fire, 2015
Two men near Sheep Ranch, California, use rakes to construct a containment line ahead of an approaching wildfire. The orange of their equipment echoes that of threatening flames and dusky atmospherics that surround them. As climate change makes wildfires increasingly frequent, firefighters are called upon more often. In addition to paid professional firefighters, the State of California exploits incarcerated people for their labor as firefighters, paying only $1 per hour and saving the state $100 million annually. In this context, firefighting suits replace jumpsuits, masking the identities of these men and giving them the appearance that they are just other firefighters. These suits also have the effect of masking gross injustice, firefighters who have little, if any, choice in using their labor for these purposes, in horribly dangerous environments, and make pitiful wages doing it. Label by Morgan Brittain