After this (Palisades) fire with thousands of folks having their homes burned

[intrepidity]

while absolutely no firefighters were available to protect their neighborhoods (for various reasons; not casting any blame here whatsoever, it was just a confluence of many awful circumstances), but for those folks with the means--and that will be many, but certainly not most or all--I have to wonder if there will be an effort to secure some sort of private firefighting protection. I know that if I had the means and intended to rebuild in that area (or anywhere nowadays, really) I might be favorably inclined to such a thing.

But here's my question: first, is that even legal, or what would have to hapoen to make it so? and most important, how would that work in terms of coordination with local/city/county firefighters?? We've long envisioned the dystopian nightmare that extreme privitization of such services would produce, and I fear we may be on the verge of seeing how it goes. Under a Trump/Musk administration, I can see this happening.

What happens to all those who cannot afford that protection? Will insurance companies get on this bandwagon and require it?

Man, the future sure looks dim. I can't shake it.

[Irish_Dem]

1. That is the GOP goal, privatize all public services.

More money for the rich.

So where does it end?
We all have to hire our own police, road crews, salt trucks.

[Nictuku]

2. You can't fly helicopters or airplanes in 70mph winds

When we have the horrible fires up here (Bay Area Wine Country), the night that the fire drove into Santa Rosa and decimated it was the same. There is no fighting a fire under those weather conditions. I think that was also part of the problem in Lahaina (but there is more to that story).

My ex, who lives in West Hollywood said that today, after the winds died down, they got a lot of it under control because they could use the helicopters and airplanes.

I've been worried about him, but he is safe so far.

I've been evacuated for fires twice where I live, up in the Napa hills near Lake Berryessa. I HATE the wind in the dryness of the summer. PG&E actually turn our power off in the summer when it gets windy. Power Lines often are the cause of fires when it is dry and no humidity.

It was very windy here recently, but earlier in the week we had a lot of rain, so I'm not so worried for my area. My ex says it has been the lowest humidity reported down there, it is extremely dry.

[intrepidity]

7. I understand all of that.

And tried to caveat it, but it is besides my main point: the people of means who lost homes will be wondering if they *might* have gotten better protection some other way, and there will be greedy entrepeneurs willing to sell them what appears to be a solution.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. From Gangs of New York:

[Old Crank]

4. A couple of issues.

All reservoirs used for fire in LA were full before the fires started. 3 million gallon ones were depleted in 15 hours during the fire. This was not expected. Could it have been planned for? Perhaps, but before this series it was an outlying event.
SoCal has had essentially no rain since May. Extreme drought and everything was dry. Along come stronger than normal Santa Anna winds. If this is going to be the new normal it is going to cost lots of money to start up a private fire system.
Will that system have access to the existing system? Will they have the money to build out a complete storage and plumbing system. Most places have mutual aid with other departments. This keeps the costs down since you will get help for big fires from your neighbours. Fire houses, staffing, and equipment are expensive. Training is not cheap either.
I can't imagine trying to set up a private fire department for an area that size. Stanford used to have their own but for many years pays the city next to it for fire suppression services and provides a fire house.

[intrepidity]

9. Those are the sort of questions I'm wondering about.

In the same way that private contractors have overtaken much of the military, or how SpaceX is doing the same with NASA.

[Voltaire2]

5. "while absolutely no firefighters were available to protect their neighborhood" firefighters fight fires.

They do not 'protect neighborhoods. There are thousands of firefighting teams actively working to suppress these fires. Teams from all over the US, teams from Canada. Stop listening to rightwing bullshit.

Over the last 24 hours, U.S. Forest Service personnel have suppressed 50 fire starts in California. Additionally, the Hollywood Fire has been suppressed, and the evacuation order has been lifted. Additional containment progress is being made on other active fires. CalFire is actively working to supply generators to power water pumps throughout the area to ensure sufficient water to support suppression efforts.
...
The Federal government is continuing to support local firefighting efforts with three additional CL-415 aerial firefighting aircraft and nine additional helicopters. These supplement the five tankers and 10 firefighting helicopters already in place through the National Interagency Fire Center. The Federal government is also coordinating with the Canadian Interagency Fire Center, which will provide additional two CL-415s from Quebec, Canada, that are expected to move into Southern California on Monday. The State of Colorado mobilized their multi-mission fixed wing aircraft to Southern California yesterday to assist with wildfire detection and provide real-time updates to firefighters on the ground in addition to fielding 50 engine companies to assist with firefighting efforts on the ground. Additionally, the Department of Defense is providing infrared imaging for perimeter mapping of the fires, and at the President’s direction has activated all eight of its Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems to further support suppression efforts. The first two of those specially equipped aircrafts will be in the air today.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/09/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-continues-to-support-life-saving-wildfire-response-efforts-in-california/

[intrepidity]

10. Excuse me?

There's no "rightwing bullshit" that I'm listening to. I've been watching non-stop live coverage of these fire since they began; I think I know what's been happening. But good job missing the point of my post.

[pfitz59]

6. 'Fire-proof' construction and landscaping

would have mitigated some of this loss. Fire prone regions of the world often build in stone, brick, tile and steel. Political wherewithal and enforcement is required.

[intrepidity]

11. True, whenever you see one or a few buildings standing alone

amidst whole destroyed neighborhoods, it's usually easy to see why they survived.

[Marthe48]

8. Having services for the common good is vital

The idiots trying to vacuum every buck out of every pocket won't realize the benefits of providing for the common good outweigh the costs. Many public servants chose their career because they have at least a spark of altruism, something that the lunatics with money don't have or think they need. I can't imagine hiring thugs to protect me, or aimless people to fight fires, or staff medical facilities, or teach kids who don't have that spark of humanity. Humans used to be trained with an eye to developing that spark, but the megalomaniacs would like to beat and starve that out of us, so like them, we'll do anything for money and nothing for the joy of doing it.