Six months ago, just after the last onslaught of California wildfires this column commented on the private firefighting crews sent in to protect homes insured by Chubb Insurance, American International Group, and USAA. The private insurance firefighting crews were assigned to guard the homes of policyholders valued at more than $1 million and in a wildfire-prone area.
Complete details can be found here. But in a nutshell, the private sector firefighting companies cleared wood piles, patio furniture, and other combustible items from close proximity to the home. Then the crews set up fire-fighting sprinklers or trucked water to the site. In particularly dire circumstances the private crews sprayed a home with fire retardant foam in an effort to save it.
Wall Street Journal (!) reporters cast an inequality-filled eye on the situation and implied saving these homes from a devastating fire is just another example of the income inequality that makes residing in the USA a living hell for the peons forced to endure these outrages.
The reporters did even consider pointing out private crews protecting the homes of the insured freed up local, state, and federal firefighting resources to concentrate on other areas at no extra charge to the taxpayer!
Evidently that line of attack didn’t catch fire with the public, because now NBC is on the story and this time bureaucrats in bunker gear are unhappy.
During the most destructive fire in California’s history, when more than 245,000 acres burned, 43 people died and 8,900 buildings were consumed, government firefighting bureaucrats are unhappy the private crews didn’t complete all the paperwork and keep the government apprised of their location at all times.
I’m sure someone can see the bureaucrat’s point. After all, it’s not like time was at a premium or anything.
Cal Fire Deputy Chief of Information Scott McLean was typical. His gripe, “Everyone has to be accounted for and listed in the Incident Action Plan. You cannot just arbitrarily throw people at these incidents. It comes down to accountability and safety."
I’m sure policyholders whose homes were saved by the private crews would have been outraged had they known their firefighters weren’t listed in the “Incident Action Plan” and would have been happy to let their domicile burn while these vital forms were amended.
Battalion Chief Chris Landry didn’t mention the “Incident Action Plan” but did appear to be unhappy because he couldn’t personally interview each of the private firefighters, “I've never seen them [private crews] check in. We don't have common communication. I don't know what they're qualified at. I don't know where they are, because I'm not supervising them. They report to the insurer."
In a multi-agency response over hundreds of thousands of burning acreage we’re sure every government firefighter’s location was known at all times and there were no foul-ups in reporting crew registration to the central HQ. After all, look how smoothly the government handled the Obamacare rollout.
It seems the big gripe of the taxpayer-funded fire bureaucrats was the fact they didn’t control the crews and couldn’t order them around. The insurance company customers whose homes were saved certainly didn’t complain about crew training.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.
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