The Los Angeles fires have claimed 25 lives, devoured more than 12,000 structures and have thrown the state into an insurance crisis, so you’d think that everyone would be happy at any effort – public, private, volunteer – to save lives and properties. Instead, we’ve seen plenty of online observers lash out at business owners and celebrities who have hired their own private fire crews to protect their properties and often those of their neighbors.
This is a useful development. It means fewer properties that public agencies have to worry about. As the state battles natural disasters, it should incentivize people to construct fire breaks, hire fire crews and do whatever it takes to protect what’s theirs. It’s good for them and good for the community. Instead, California imposes onerous fire-clearance regulations on property owners. The state passed a law in 2018 making it more difficult for private firefighters to operate, so many have exited the state.
Of course, firefighter unions don’t like the competition, just as they dislike volunteer firefighting departments. “When we see groups like this come in, we don’t consider them an asset – we consider them a liability,” Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, told The New York Times. Apparently, it’s better if local residents wait for overburdened union crews to possibly save their homes.
One of the reasons Los Angeles and other agencies have too few firefighters to deal with an emergency of this size is the salaries and pensions paid to union firefighters. We perused the Transparent California database and found a Los Angeles fire captain earning a $906,000 compensation package (including $613,000 in overtime) and battalion chief earning $817,000. There’s a long list of local firefighters earning CEO-level salaries.
Everyone appreciates the work firefighters do, but the system is dominated by unions and controlled by politicians. So don’t expect an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Actually, one of the key ways to improve firefighting is to increase the use of private firefighters and resources. It’s a discussion that California’s municipalities need to have after the smoke has cleared.