Popular Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has been interviewing incarcerated firefighters who are working to get the wildfires in Los Angeles under control.
Piker hopped on X to explain why he’s speaking with firefighters on Twitch.
"I try to use my platform this way 'cause there are lots of normal ppl out there who fell through the cracks of the system with no support whatsoever,” Piker wrote. “We cast them aside and choose to dehumanize them. Everyone is trying their best. rehabilitation & reintegration lowers recidivism.”
Several of Piker’s interviews have made it to X and gone viral. In one of them, he speaks with one prisoner about whether it’s better fighting these fires than being in prison.
“It’s way better because if I was in the prison yard, I’m seeing guys get stabbed, get beat up, the cops treat us like shit, but here we get better treatment,” he said. “They talk to us like humans. We got a job. We’re underpaid, but we have a job. And then the community shows us all kinds of love. We never received that growing up.”
In another interview, Piker listened as the inmate explained the experience of being in the world after being in prison for so long.
“I’ve only did it for 12 or 13 years, but the point is that I’m about to go home next month,” the man said. “You go from a cell to this right here, and it’s culture-shocking.
“It does help you because you get to start mingling with the public, like you guys, the civilians,” he continued. “I feel foreign with you guys because I feel like I’m part of the prison, that’s who I was, that’s what they want me to be.”
In another conversation, Piker wanted to get the opinion of one of the inmate firefighters about the fact that there are private firefighters making up to $7,000 a day.
“Wow. It’s crazy. It’s a big pill to swallow,” said the prisoner. “But the return that we get is our second chance at life, you know. This is a pilot program. A lot of us made decisions before our brain was able to develop—before the age of 25. This is our second chance. At this point, it’s a blessing.”
The inmates are fighting fires through the Conversation (Fire) Camp Program. Jointly operated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department, there are 35 fire camps in 25 counties in the state of California where inmates can volunteer and receive classroom and field training.
