More than 500 wildfires have been ignited across California this week, the result of a record-shattering heat wave and about 12,000 lightning strikes. The governor has declared a statewide emergency, and tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders, yet many of them are reluctant to head to shelters amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The thousands of people incarcerated in California prisons — some of which have already been devastated by COVID-19 — do not have the option of fleeing the flames. Instead, they are forced to wait out the crisis behind bars, breathing in smoke and polluted air that could make them even more vulnerable to dying of the coronavirus. Some of the prisoners are fighting the flames themselves, earning just a few dollars a day for the life-threatening work. And because of …continued .
[Source: Huffington Post]