Different headline... Insurance companies implement fire mitigation tactics to protect policyholders
Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
31–40 of 214 posts
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#32Amusing how anyone suggesting burying powerlines underground is immediately pushed back by "it's expensive" know it alls. Wondering if power-cuts like 3rd world countries enjoy are preferable over a slight increase in power supply costs, and wether impotence is more desirable over action bEcAuSe iT's eXpEnSivE.
Could also upgrade some infrastructure in the process, like running fiber. Might not be free but worthwhile.
And perhaps even begin building a superconducting grid ad for once in PG&E's history, doing something that was pro-active rather than reactive.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#33I've seen similar variants of this headline floating around, so I don't want to over-blame this Fox outlet for something that's just in the water by this point (I don't recall if they were all on Fox-family outlets, but probably not). That said, the headline seems pretty manipulative...
> However, private firefighters are more likely to contract with insurance companies like USAA to offer mitigation services to customers. Sometimes neighborhood associations hire private firefighters, according to The Post.
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> Homeowners hiring private firefighters make up about 5% of the industry, David Torgerson of Wildfire Defense Systems told The Los Angeles Times last year.
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> Firefighting crews working for insurance companies do not just wait around for the fire to spread to the areas they're protecting. They often install sprinkler systems and spray retardant, according to The Post.
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> When trying to fireproof a particular home, crews will take the time to rake away vegetation surrounding the home and close windows and vents, The Times reported.
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> title: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The government is unwilling to hire these people, so they're available to private individuals. Show me the evidence this is happening.
Your very own comment said "lack of supply of fireman". Are you implying that there are open fireman positions that no one is applying for? If so your market is incredibly different from the one I know. Here in Australia a job as a fireman is very hard to get.
There are open positions. Whether qualified applicants are applying, I don’t know.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#35Unrelated, but annoying: How does FOX get around the autoplay protection of Firefox on Desktop? I have blocked all AutoPlay and yet the annoying video starts playing.
No idea, but it seems to be using Akamai Player: https://player.akamai.com/
It seems to have an event called "autoplayblocked": https://developer.akamai.com/tools/AdaptiveMediaPlayer/docs/...
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#36Amusing how anyone suggesting burying powerlines underground is immediately pushed back by "it's expensive" know it alls. Wondering if power-cuts like 3rd world countries enjoy are preferable over a slight increase in power supply costs, and wether impotence is more desirable over action bEcAuSe iT's eXpEnSivE.
Could also upgrade some infrastructure in the process, like running fiber. Might not be free but worthwhile.
There you go. Seriously sad to read about how this happens in one of the most tech developed areas of the world.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#37And the public has prison slave labor fighting its fires:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/prisoners-are-get...
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#38Unrelated, but annoying: How does FOX get around the autoplay protection of Firefox on Desktop? I have blocked all AutoPlay and yet the annoying video starts playing.
It doesn't autoplay for me (using Firefox 70.0)
In fact, in my console there's a message that says this:
"Autoplay is only allowed when approved by the user, the site is activated by the user, or media is muted."
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've got the wrong way of looking at this. The government is unwilling to hire these people, so they're available to private individuals. If the government were winning to fork out tax dollars for private firefighters, there's nothing stopping them from doing so. The great thing about capitalism, for better or worse, but mostly better is that you or any one other person does not get to decide what constitutes effic…
> the market ends up magically having this sort of collective intelligence What if one person had enough resources to pay all firemen to not fight fires at all? The "collective intelligence" of the market has obvious blind spots.
Then there would be unfilled jobs for firemen, which would increase the wages for firemen, which would prompt more people to move into a career as a firefighter, which would increase the supply of firemen until the jobs willing to pay the new prevailing wage were mostly filled, approximately.
That's exactly how pricing signals work. "Firemen" is not a fixed set of people.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've got the wrong way of looking at this. The government is unwilling to hire these people, so they're available to private individuals. If the government were winning to fork out tax dollars for private firefighters, there's nothing stopping them from doing so. The great thing about capitalism, for better or worse, but mostly better is that you or any one other person does not get to decide what constitutes effic…
Step 1: Rich people lobby to lower taxes Step 2: The government can't afford firefighters. Step 3: Rich people use the tax money they've saved to employ private firefighters to only protect their property. Step 4: Poor people are left to die in otherwise controllable fires.
> Step 1: Rich people lobby to lower taxes
There are more poor people than rich people so the poor people had to vote for those that lowered the taxes at the expense of the firefighting services, which in turn means that it cannot be that clear cut.