Image source, Getty Images photo caption, The fires in Los Angeles have required all the resources of firefighters. Item information Author, Dario M. Brooks Author’s title, BBC News World January 18, 2025 In the midst of the emergency in Los Angeles, a request for help placed in X by a businessman uncovered a controversy a few days ago. Keith Wasserman, a CEO of an investment firm, wrote on the social network: “Does anyone have contacts with private firefighters to protect our house in Pacific Palisades? We need to act quickly. All the neighboring houses are on fire. We will pay any amount. Thank you” . Your house in Pacific Palisadesone of the neighborhoods where wealthy people live and which has been one of the most affected by the fireswas under threat of fire. Shortly afterward it was learned that it was consumed by flames. But Wasserman’s request for help from private firefighters generated a lot of criticism, from those who rejected the availability of resources to fight fires to the highest bidder, to those who considered it unethical to send workers to risk their lives. “So you’re suggesting that potentially vital (even ‘private’) resources be diverted to save your house because you’re rich while tens of thousands of people are trying to evacuate?” questioned a user identified as Renny. “The nerve is incredible… His family is evacuated and he tries to hire private firefighters to risk their lives to save a house that is probably insured,” wrote Sam Vance in another response to Wasserman’s message, who after criticism deactivated your account. However, what Wasserman was requesting is a private fire response service known for several years in Los Angeles and other parts vulnerable to this type of emergency in the United States. In fact, in that same city in 2018 another controversy arose after Kim Kardashian and her then-husband, Kanye West, hired a private fire service to protect their home in Calabasas from a forest fire. Kardashian then defended herself against the criticism, pointing out that the out-of-pocket hire not only saved her $50 million mansion, but helped her neighbors. Image source, Getty Images photo caption, Private fire control services primarily do preventive work. Specialists point out that private hiring of firefighters is more unusual than the current emergency makes it seem. The firms regularly serve businesses, insurance companies and, in the least cases, small clients. This is confirmed by Deborah Miley, director of the National Wildland Fire Fighting Association, which represents more than 300 private firefighting firms. Miley explained to the newspaper The New York Times that almost half (42%) of the firefighters in the United States are hired by this type of company. Joe Torres, from the private services company All-Risk Shield, explains to BBC Mundo that this is his case. “It’s usually an annual subscription. We do a lot of property preparation work long before any fire hits,” he explains. Although the law prohibits these companies from interfering with emergency operations, there are some that can offer their resources on their own. What do private firefighters offer? The firms, of various sizes, have tankers of different capacities, as well as fire crews and experts in protecting buildings against fires, forestry or other types. Regularly retired firefighters join the ranks of these companies. They use their own resources, including water, since they are prohibited from connecting to public service hydrants. In California, a law to regulate these services that emerged in 2018 – after the Kardashian and West controversy – even prohibits these services from having vehicles that look like red emergency vehicles, or that interfere with public operations. In the current emergency in Los Angeles, some private firefighters have been seen guarding residences in wealthy neighborhoods. According to reports, prices vary: from those who offer their services for US$2,000 per hour, to those who guard a property for between US$10,000 and US$14,000 per day. photo caption, The BBC saw several private services guarding residences in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Emma Vardy, a BBC reporter sent to cover the California emergency, found tankers from private companies doing preventive surveillance in the Brentwood neighborhood. “These can only be paid for by the very, very rich,” Vardy said. “There is a small army ready to protect these homes of very, very rich people. People have questioned how ethical this is while there are schools and homes of ordinary people that have been destroyed. And with public fire services in crisis,” he reported from that neighborhood, which still did not have an imminent threat of fire. But the current emergency has put many in the city in a difficult situation. More than 12,000 structures – including homes and businesses – have been consumed by the fire that has devastated some 16,000 hectares, between natural areas and neighborhoods such as Palisades, Eaton or Altadena. Unlike Wasserman, other businessmen have managed to save their properties. The case of real estate developer Rick Caruso has been cited in various media, as he hired a service that traveled from the neighboring states of Arizona and Oregon to protect his residence and a small shopping center in Pacific Palisades. Image source, Getty Images photo caption, Private services offer teams with trucks of different capacity and number of rescuers. BBC Mundo requested comments from the Los Angeles authorities about the private fire operation, but at the time of publication of this article it had not received a response. David Acuña, one of the spokespersons for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, explained to CBS News, a BBC partner in the US, that private firefighters do not respond to emergencies in general. “We do not want nor are we going to delegate to private firefighters the operations that we have to carry out with complex coordination,” he said. To provide help or not? When hired, employees of these private companies prepare property in an area vulnerable to wildfires with controls on the ground: clearing vegetation or flammable materials that cause flames to reach … Read more
