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Wealthy Homeowners, Their Insurers Turn to Hired Help to Fight Wildfires
The Wall Street Journal|January 15, 2025
When former Olympic gold-medal sprinter Michael Johnson heard the Palisades fire was heading his way, he knew his multimillion-dollar hillside home in Malibu was in danger. Johnson didn't simply dial 911 as others in the wildfire's path did: He turned to his private firefighting system for protection.
- By MARK MAREMONT
Wealthy Homeowners, Their Insurers Turn to Hired Help to Fight Wildfires

Johnson pays about $5,000 a year to lease the system, a pump-and-hose apparatus that can draw large amounts of water from his swimming pool to help fight the progress of wildfires and backstop the city's municipal firefighters and hydrants.

Just as Johnson and his wife started hosing down their property in hopes of preventing any embers from igniting, a man sent by the system's supplier, Fire Defense Service, showed up to help them. The Johnsons soon evacuated, believing they would never see their house again. But the man from Fire Defense stayed behind to help protect their house and a neighbor's who was also a client.

"His plan was to fight it if it came," Johnson recalled.

As the inferno engulfed parts of the Los Angeles area, tensions have flared over the crews of private firefighters who have been spotted roaming affected neighborhoods and battling the blazes for their clients.

A Pacific Palisades resident came under fire after offering on X to "pay any amount" for private firefighters willing to protect his home. Indignation was also directed at former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, who used a team of six private firefighters to save his high-end shopping center in Pacific Palisades, while nearby properties were destroyed. Caruso defended his use of the crew in an interview. "It freed up resources of the city to help protect the neighboring area," he said.

Denne historien er fra January 15, 2025-utgaven av The Wall Street Journal.

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Denne historien er fra January 15, 2025-utgaven av The Wall Street Journal.

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