Most of us know that the U.S. fire service has its roots with Benjamin Franklin, who is widely regarded as the first fire chief, having founded the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia in 1736.
Tradition also tells us that his genius not only organized the first fire department, but also that he was instrumental in the creation of the Philadelphia Contributionship Insurance Company, which insured properties that would install lightning rods as a preventative measure against lightning strikes. It was also the first insurance company to use metal fire marks in a familiar “four hands clasped together”-style to signify the homes it insured.
Along with insurance coverage that shared the risk against fires, properties were given these fire marks to recognize that the insurance companies would not only cover the loss but also pay the volunteers for their firefighting efforts. While fire marks today have all but disappeared, the concept of private fire departments appears to once again be gaining momentum in wildfire-prone states.
The rise of private fire companies in wildfire-prone areas
As of the time of this writing, firefighters were battling two massive blazes in California – the Kincade Fire in Northern California’s Sonoma County, threatening Geyserville as well as the Santa Rosa area previously devastated by wildfire in 2017, and the Tick Fire near Los Angeles. Combined, these fires have required the evacuation of 180,000-200,000 California residents.
The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, along with other media outlets, such as Fox Business News, have reported the use of private fire companies over and above those municipal, county, state and federal fire resources being mobilized to contain these fires. A Google search shows approximately 250 private fire companies doing business in the United States, with most providing services to industry and the federal government. The firefighters are fully trained to the federal standards, following NFPA guidelines for Firefighter I and Firefighter II.
In addition to the private fire crews contracted by government agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, many private fire companies contract with insurance companies or individual homeowners for their services. Insurance companies such as Chubb, USAA and Safeco offer their fire or homeowner policyholders the services of these private fire companies when a wildfire threatens a home they insure. Some of the insurance companies charge an additional premium for the service; others build the service into the premium as part of their investment in insuring especially multi-million-dollar homes. An individual homeowner can also contract with a private fire company directly, but it comes at a hefty price tag – up to $3,000 per day, per the New York Post.
The private fire department firefighters have several jobs to help protect the homes of the insured or contracted homeowners. Like public firefighters, private firefighters will triage homes, focusing on the ones that have a higher likelihood of being destroyed without their intervention, per the Los Angeles Times. Firefighters create a defendable space around the home by clearing brush, fitting the home with external sprinklers, even using lawn sprinklers, fed by portable pumps with water drafted from the residential swimming pool. The sprinklers protect the roof and surrounding area from falling embers that are a principal cause of ignition for homes in the path of the fire. In addition, these crews will close windows and doors, remove combustible furnishings, such as patio cushions or curtains, and can even surround the home with a fire retardant similar to that dropped by an airborne water tanker.
Further, according to the The New York Times, some contractors are beginning to hire out their services to homeowners directly. The founder of one private security firm outside Los Angeles explained that he is planning to cross-train his security guards to fight fires and offer the firefighting as part of a subscription-based fire protection service in the future.
Concerns about private crews
Some firefighters – and members of the general public – have voiced criticisms of these private services.
First, there is a sense by some that these services are available only to the rich – that everyday citizens cannot afford the cost of these additional services. This became a particularly hot-button topic after the media reported that Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West had hired private firefighters to save their home during the 2018 Woolsey Fire.
Second, the private fire crews sometimes fail to coordinate their efforts with the local fire departments operating under a Unified Command structure. Some of the area fire department firefighters point to the private firefighters as liabilities, especially if they are operating in the mandatory evacuation areas. They feel that they may have to risk their lives to save the private firefighters should things go wrong and they get cut off from an escape route.
“From the standpoint of first responders, they are not viewed as assets to be deployed. They’re viewed as a responsibility,” Carroll Wills, communications director for California Professional Firefighters, told the Los Angeles Times in 2018.
The numbers will grow …
Criticisms aside, one has to believe that if we continue to rebuild the same types of combustible homes with wood shake roofs in wildfire-prone areas, the story is not going to change. Either pubic fire resources are going to have to be strengthened or the number of these private fire departments protecting specific locations or neighborhoods is going to increase.
Stay safe!
The following article, originally published in 2019, has been updated to include additional links and minor copy changes.
