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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday November 29 2018, @05:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-seller's-market dept.

With California experiencing two years of unprecedented wildfires that have left more than 20,000 homes destroyed and scores dead, the private firefighting business is booming. These brigades work independently from county firefighters; their job is to protect specific homes under contract with insurance companies.

Their work can vary from pushing back flames as they approach properties to reaching the site before the blaze arrives and spraying homes with fire retardant.

But the private forces have generated complaints from some fire departments, who say they don't always coordinate with local crews and amount to one more worry as they try to evacuate residents and battle the blaze.

"From the standpoint of first responders, they are not viewed as assets to be deployed. They're viewed as a responsibility," said Carroll Wills, communications director for California Professional Firefighters, a labor union representing rank-and-file firefighters in the state.

What began more than a decade ago as a white-glove service for homeowners in well-to-do neighborhoods has expanded in recent years as the wildfire danger has increased, said Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, a not-for-profit organization that educates the public about the insurance industry.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-private-firefighters-20181127-story.html


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ilPapa on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:13PM (5 children)

    by ilPapa (2366) on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:13PM (#767864) Journal

    I personally like having a government funded fire department, but I also like to have the freedom to replace them if they can't handle the job.

    Except these private firemen aren't "replacing" anyone. The regular firemen are still on the hook to deal with the fire and now they have to deal with some other guys who've gotten in their way. So if one of these private firemen gets hurt, it's going to be on the taxpayer's dime to go and haul their ass out.

    It would be one thing if the people hiring private firefighters signed some kind of waiver saying they understand they're not going to get help from the public firefighters. They want it both ways.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:27PM (#767871)

    and now they have to deal with some other guys who've gotten in their way.

    In the article it says this has been going on for years, yet this scenario has never happened:

    Chubb has been working with Wildfire Defense Systems since 2008, offering the service as part of its standard homeowner’s policy for properties in wildfire-exposed areas. Roughly 50,000 clients are enrolled across the country, said Frances O’Brien, chief of the company’s North America Personal Risk Services branch.

    McGrath said he’s never personally encountered a situation in which a private firefighter needed to be rescued

    So, it doesnt seem to be a very big price to pay for thousands or tens of thousands of people not having their house burn down.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:35PM (3 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:35PM (#767874)

    Pretty much this.
    The firefighters don't like to let a mansion burn. There's pride in saving buildings. There's even tax revenue in saving buildings.

    When those guys say "let this one burn, focus elsewhere", it's partially because they have limited manpower (one firefighter per house, nothing will burn, right?), but that doesn't mean that adding a few guys tasked with one specific place to defend is actually helping.

    But you're answering to someone who claims it's somehow CA incompetence that suddenly causes year-round fire season (Thomas fire was in December last year), longer dry wind episodes, and the need to reassess where people live and how much we should allocate to fight fires. Not worth our time.

    • (Score: 2) by NewNic on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:07PM (2 children)

      by NewNic (6420) on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:07PM (#768000) Journal

      There's even tax revenue in saving buildings.

      Probably less than you think, because of Prop 13. Many of those houses will have property tax valuations that are little more, or even less, than the real value of the land they were sitting on.

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      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:16PM (1 child)

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:16PM (#768009)

        But more than a heap of ash ...
        - Save it !
        But less than the mansion that will replace it if it burns down
        - Abandon it !
        But it could take a few years before that's built, offsetting the gain
        - ... Err, what do I do, chief ?

        • (Score: 2) by NewNic on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:38PM

          by NewNic (6420) on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:38PM (#768025) Journal

          - ... Err, what do I do, chief ?

          As always: save the people.

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          lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory