Los Angeles fires revive debate over private firefighters for the rich

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Todd Woody and Maxwell Adler

Published Jan 09, 2025  •  2 minute read

Houses burn during the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. Photo by Kyle Grillot /Bloomberg

As his Los Angeles neighbourhood burned on Tuesday, resident Keith Wasserman posted a plea on X: “Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbours houses burning. Will pay any amount.”

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Wasserman, cofounder of real estate investment firm Gelt Venture Partners, sparked outrage online, renewing debate about the role of private fire-fighting services as increasingly fast-moving, climate-driven wildfires overwhelm governments’ ability to respond. Wasserman’s X account has since been deleted and he didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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Private firefighters were being deployed in Los Angeles as several wildfires continued to burn out of control on Wednesday, incinerating more nearly 30,000 acres, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate and destroying more than 1,000 structures. But the role of private firefighters and their effectiveness in an era of catastrophic conflagrations isn’t clear cut.

The hurricane-force winds that drove the extreme speed of the Palisades fire and forced residents to flee for their lives would have left little time for private fire-fighting teams to respond, according to Don Holter, an owner of Mt. Adams Wildfire, a Northern California fire-fighting service.

“With those kind of winds, the fire is coming straight at you and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.” Holter said.

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Private fire-fighting services for hire have drawn criticism in recent years. When Kim Kardashian and Kanye West credited private firefighters with saving their $60 million Los Angeles mansion from a 2018 wildfire, the move was seen as a sign of widening inequality, with the rich paying to protect their property with everyone else left to sift through the ashes.

Covered 6, a Los Angeles-area security firm, is assisting cities with evacuations and fire suppression, according to company founder Chris Dunn. He said Covered 6 sent staff to Pepperdine University in December when the Franklin fire threatened the campus.

Under California law, private fire-fighting services must register with local authorities before entering a wildfire zone. “There is no replacing, or circumventing, or subverting public safety,” said Dunn. “There’s only augmentation and support.”

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Holter said Mt. Adams Wildfire has seen a jump in demand from residents in recent years. Typically, a homeowner will sign an agreement with the company to provide advice on how to protect their property and be on call to respond to a wildfire if needed.

“There’s a lot of opportunities and I work more now than I’ve ever worked,” said Holter, whose company mainly contracts with the federal government to suppress wildland fires. He declined to say what Mt. Adams charges homeowners but noted that the cost depends on the size of the property and the equipment and personnel deployed.

Holter said the time to engage private firefighters is before a blaze rather than send out a distress flare like Pacific Palisades resident Wasserman did as flames bore down on his house. “We try to get them ahead of the curve and know what to do,” he said of his clients. “When we respond, it’s usually someone who has called ahead of time before the fire gets there.”

— With assistance from Eliyahu Kamisher.

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