@coolbean @rat @trans_caracal What separates a prisoner firefighter and a volunteer one is in the name. The prisoner is coerced into participating in one of the most unpredictable and dangerous fires humans can set themselves against. The flow path is impossible to control and you will never be able to fully predict the lay of the land or how it has changed from the demolishing heat and expanding embers.

A volunteer chooses todo this to serve their community or for whatever reason. A prisoner has a perverse incentive laid at their feet in order to gain freedoms that were cordoned off by them by the state, thus removing the autonomy of choosing to engage in such a hazardous task.