CA private firefighters: let the rich burn!

Los Angeles residents have been bombarded not only by wildfires, but by unintended and unnecessary evacuation orders which added to the chaos and further reduced—if such was possible--their trust in government. As they began to understand the LA Fire Department wasn’t going to be able to save their homes, some with the means turned to the private sector: 

As [talent manager Adam] Leber rushed his family to safety amid a broader firestorm engulfing wide swaths of Los Angeles County, a private firefighting service arrived to ensure his 6,000-square-foot home — once owned by filmmaker Preston Sturges and “rumored to be the site of Charlie Chaplin’s first wedding,” according to an old real estate listing — remained standing.

Leber is one of a growing number of Californians who, faced with the growing threat of wildfires in populated areas, have turned to private firefighting teams as an added layer of protection. Supporters of private firefighting teams argue they can augment the work of government-run efforts, stepping in to fill the cracks caused by depleted city and state budgets and an ever-worsening climate crisis.

Graphic: X Screenshot

As one might imagine, the specter of the wealthy being able to protect their lives, possessions and property where those of lesser means can’t has aroused the indignation of the self-appointed guardians of the people, who argue a handful of private firefighters use water denied publicly supported firefighters. It’s an argument that seems to make sense on its face, except as has widely been elsewhere reported, all too often there was no water, and as is just now being reported, there aren’t enough firefighters either: 

[LA Fire Chief Kristin] Crowley wrote to the city's fire commissioners—a five-person board appointed by Bass—on Nov. 18 and asked them to transmit the message to Bass and the city council. The fire department's size, she said, hadn't increased in decades despite significant population growth.

"In many ways, the current staffing, deployment model, and size of the LAFD have not changed since the 1960s," wrote Crowley, who also complained that a spike in emergency calls and a shortage of fire stations had led to longer response times. In 2022, Crowley said, 61 percent of the department's firefighters failed to meet the 4-minute first response time, a national firefighting standard. The National Fire Protection Association, meanwhile, recommends that cities like Los Angeles employ some 1.51 to 1.81 firefighters per 1,000 residents. But Los Angeles, Crowley wrote, only staffs 0.91 firefighters per 1,000 people.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been complaining that facts exposing his and other California politician’s incompetence, DEI mania and general culpability for the wildfires is “disinformation” which must be censored. And so it has:

As the catastrophe unfolded, Crowley's memo disappeared from a city website. The New York Times referenced the memo in a Thursday piece but did not link to it. The memo was available online at this link as recently as Friday. By Saturday night, however, the memo was replaced with a message stating, "404! We are sorry, but the page you requested was not found." 

Here's the real concern of those opposing private firefighting:

Moreover, they say, private firefighters widen the already-vast chasm between rich and poor, safeguarding the interests of the former at the expense of the latter.

“The rich suffer zero consequences of anything, even cataclysmic natural disasters,” one user wrote on X, responding to a video the Chronicle posted showing private firefighters saving Leber’s house. “Private and firefighter should not be in the same sentence,” wrote another.

Graphic: X Screenshot

The self-imagined and appointed elite don’t really object to the rich having--and preserving--nice things. They object to losing the power to decide who gets, and gets to keep, them. The article notes some private firms contract with public fire departments, but that’s just fine. In that case, government keeps the power to decide whose homes burn and whose don’t.

As the flames neared, “I immediately started researching private firefighters,” [Leber] said. Quickly, he found a company that looked reputable, All Risk Shield. A crew arrived soon after, guarding the house until the local fire department arrived. Leber was so pleased with the company’s work that he bought a suite of services for his Los Angeles home, including fire hardening and emergency response.

So. You live in an exclusive neighborhood in one of the most highly taxed states and cities in the nation. Your Fire Chief and head of the water department are DEI hires whose priorities are—surprise!—DEI.  The morbidly obese Assistant Fire Chief thinks if she had to rescue anyone—which she can’t—it’s because they were in the wrong place. The Mayor was out of the country, the Governor is blaming Climate Change and Trump and all you wanted was for the services for which you pay outrageous taxes to work, but noooooooooo!  When you have to hire private fire fighters, the problem is you.  

That’s D/s/c non-thinking. That’s California.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. 

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