Among the unsung heroes battling the Pacific Palisades and Eaton wildfires were private firefighters. This takes nothing from the accolades of the great men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department and other departments who fought the blazes endlessly, day and night. Each did their part to protect people and property.
Unfortunately, the private efforts could be hindered in battling future blazes by Assembly Bill 1075, legislation introduced by Assemblymember Issac Bryan, D-Culver City. Sponsored by the California Professional Firefighters union, it would require the state Office of Emergency Services “to develop regulations prohibiting privately contracted firefighters from hooking up their equipment to public water sources.” That is, they could not use fire hydrants. That is, they couldn’t really do their jobs.
The union said in a statement, “Public safety is not and should not be a for-profit enterprise.” Actually, we see private guards everywhere providing security and private firefighters have been around for quite some time. So it often is and has been a for-profit enterprise. Unlike California Professional Firefighters, we see nothing wrong with profit per se and unlike California Professional Firefighters, we do have a problem with gouging taxpayers.
The reason for the ire of Bryan and the union, reported Politico, is crews “such as the ones billionaire developer Rick Caruso hired to protect his properties as devastating wildfires burned swaths of the region.” Oh the horror. Someone hired firefighters to fight fires successfully and without six figure overtime pay and bloated pension benefits that crowd out other public priorities.
Aside from using envy to advance the agenda of a public-employee union and its 35,000 members, is there any reason for this legislation? Politico noted, “There is no clear indication that such activity was widespread or that it hampered the city’s response.” And Caruso’s “team insists that he didn’t use any city water.”
There actually are four types of firefighters, Scott Eskwitt, director of corporate communications and government affairs at Wildfire Defense Systems, explained to us: 1. Federal, state and local firefighters. 2. Companies that contract with government agencies. 3. Qualified insurance resources, which is what WDS does, and which “are defined by the laws addressing us. We simply will not hook up to a hydrant unless we know we have permission to do so. We’ve always operated that way and we’re confident that we’ll be able to continue to do that.” 4. Private contractors “which are a very, very small portion of this.”
It seems to us AB 1075 is a nuisance law to benefit the powerful firefighters union and prevent anyone from considering that there are in fact alternatives to how firefighting is done in California.
One of the private firefighters, Ryan Bellanca, reported CBS News, keeps his firetruck in his front yard. “There has to be many, many other things that, in my opinion, the legislature should be focusing on and not limiting people being able to come in and help,” he said.
He’s right.
The already-strained budgets of Los Angeles county and city are going to be hit even harder from both the devastation and the need to beef up fire services. Private help should not be limited. When wildfires happen, it should be all hands on deck to put them out.
