Some residents of upscale neighborhoods, ravaged by the fires, preferred to mobilize private companies of fire fighters rather than call the city’s firefighters, overwhelmed by the fires for almost a week.
“Our property is still standing […] Everything around us has disappeared. It’s like a war zone.” As flames threatened his Palisades Village shopping center, billionaire developer Rick Caruso deployed private firefighters to successfully save his complex at all costs. The small pavilions are intact and contrast with the neighboring houses which were reduced to ashes, says the New York Times .
Like Rick Caruso, some wealthy owners have preferred to call on private fire fighters rather than city firefighters since the start of the fires that ravaged Los Angeles and which left at least 24 dead. Unlike forest fires which can affect a vulnerable population, these fires strike many Hollywood stars and millionaire residents willing to do anything to protect their property.
For the moment, the number of interventions or private firefighters mobilized is not yet known, indicates the American newspaper which reports having seen multiple trucks from the company National Wildfire Protection Service, particularly specialized in fire protection.
Contested interventions
The private fire industry burst onto the public scene when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West hired one of these companies to protect their mansion in the Hidden Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles from the Woolsey Fire in 2018. This had triggered the anger of some Americans who could not afford such services. That year, 105 people died in the flames of 8,500 fires, a sad record.
The same protests are being observed today while firefighters are trying to control the flames with difficulty and more than 12,000 structures – homes or various buildings – have been destroyed or damaged by the fires, according to initial estimates from the authorities. Some Californians who have seen their homes go up in smoke are therefore outraged that wealthy homeowners are mobilizing these private fire fighters. Like Keith Wasserman, the co-founder of a real estate investment company. He was pinned on X after making an announcement on the same social network: “Does anyone have access to firefighters to protect their home in Pacific Palisades? We need to act quickly here. All the neighbors’ houses are burning. I will pay any amount. THANKS.” This tweet was criticized by many Internet users: “The discrepancy is astonishing”, “Keith Wasserman, the developer who didn’t pay his taxes, now wants to give money to private firefighters to save his house. Irony at its peak, isn’t it?we can read for example.
High prices
Not all Americans can afford the services of these companies due to their cost. “A private fire crew of two with a small vehicle can cost $3,000 a day, while a larger crew of 20 firefighters in four fire trucks can cost up to $10,000 a day.”details the New York Times. The Daily Mail mentions, for his part, quotes reaching 2000 dollars per hour.
Despite these exorbitant sums, the demand for interventions has increased in recent years reports the New York Timesat the same time as the number of forest fires has increased. On the ground, the law requires these private companies to coordinate with public firefighters and prohibits them from using flashing lights or sirens or similar insignia in order to avoid confusion.
The increase in mobilizations by these companies comes as the city’s firefighters are suffering budget cuts. The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, is accused of having cut the 2024-2025 budget of the firefighters of the City of Angels by nearly 18 million dollars, for some being ideally responsible for the spread of the flames.
