In Defense of Private Firefighters
Not everything has been torched in the California wildfires. Some of those wealthy enough to do so invested in fire mitigation technology and hired private firefighters to preserve their property. Keith Wasserman, managing partner at Gelt Venture Partners, a real estate investment firm, sparked controversy when he offered to “pay any amount” to “private firefighters to protect [his] home in Pacific Palisades.” Although he did not save his home, Wasserman has been called “incredibly tone deaf” for “hir[ing] private firefighters to risk their lives to save a home he most certainly has insured.”
With so much destruction, the preservation of anybody’s home or business—including through private firefighters—from the inferno should be celebrated, not condemned.
Wasserman wasn’t the only person to call on private firefighters during the wildfires. Rick Caruso, billionaire and former real estate developer, succeeded in hiring “a private team to protect his Palisades Village shopping complex even as the immediate neighborhood around it was reduced to rubble,” reports The Hollywood Reporter. The Getty Center has also used private means to protect its multibillion-dollar art collection and historical artifacts, investing in its own water supply, fire-resistant buildings, irrigation and air filtration systems, and landscaping.
Much of the public has reflexively critiqued the use of private firefighters by wealthy California residents. Arguments include the claim that “they compete with public teams for precious resources such as water” and “interfere with those teams’ efforts,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Joe Torres, the CEO of wildfire prevention and home hardening company All Risk Shield, denied the first claim, telling the Chronicle that “his teams primarily bring their own [water] to a site, or draw from homeowners’ pools.” Calistoga Fire Department firefighter Nathan Bowyer substantiated Torres’ account, telling the Chronicle that privat
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