Have you ever wondered why wildfires have been really bad lately in California? It’s been so bad because of climate change. According to Newsela.com, “Climate Change Is making fires burn faster and it’s hard to have firefighters put them out.”Another reason the fires have been bad is because of the shortage of rain. It has not rained since last year. Because of huge fires, other states aside from California rely on prisoners to fight the fires. Instead of making prisoners firefighters, we should all donate money to the government to pay more to firefighters. Everyone should donate $20 to the government of California. According to CAPRADIO.com, the government has been struggling to pay firefighters because they spent $699 million on fire suppression.

One reason prisoners should not fight fires is that it’s not fair to prisoners to fight fires because most of the prisoners have never fought a fire. Fighting fires is dangerous and if you don’t know what you are doing you may die. Second of all, according to Newsela.com, prisoners get paid $1 an hour which is not much because they are risking their life for other people. Lastly, prisoners can get injuries that affect their future. According to Npr.org, “They were also more than eight times as likely to face injuries after inhaling smoke, ash and other debris.”

This is why it is not safe to have prisoners as firefighters. Even though fires in California have been bad lately, we have the power to change the fires. You can help by donating money, not using a lot of water, and not wasting water so that there is enough water to fight the fires.

Addyson Hessler is a 5th grader at Crestview View who enjoys art and playing the cello.