Different headline... Insurance companies implement fire mitigation tactics to protect policyholders
I guess it's cheaper than paying out the insurance.
Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
51–60 of 214 posts
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#52Unrelated, 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.
The entire video loads but Firefox does block it from playing. Am on version 70 and have disabled autoplay as well. But I've come across other sites that are somehow able to play a video even with autoplay blocked.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there literally no solution that exists between burying power lines and keeping the lines completely exposed that would be cost effective and improve fire safety by some factor? I imagine insulators in high risk areas might do the trick but I am no high voltage expert.
Yes, these kind of insulators are called "the ground" ;)
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Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#54Interesting- I always thought the cyberpunk future of self-policed corporate-states would be here eventually, but I didn't think firefighters would be privatized in that manner before police.
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Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Isn't this the "the poor [in America] see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires" phenomenon?
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#56Amusing 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.
In my country the burying has already been done in dense areas decades ago and is progressing in the countryside.
Granted, it's about the least earthquake prone area in the world. Also differences in grid architecture between USA and Europe might make burying more expensive in USA. https://electrical-engineering-portal.com/north-american-ver...
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It’s like complaining about people hiring private security guards when there is a police shortage. What do you mean with that comparison? This would be quite a legitimate reason for complaining!
Right, but should you really be blaming the people who hire the extra private policemen, or the people who decide not to hire more public ones? It seems as though it's more effective to push for more public policemen. The same applies to firemen: it's more productive to push for more public firemen than to blame the people who hire private ones due to a shortage thereof.
Both are to blame. I'm not much of a statist, but if there's something that clearly must be assured by the government by means of taxation it is the police force and the firemen. If there's not enough police or firefighters, taxes must be raised or diverted from elsewhere.
Morally, I think that the people who push for private security and firefighters are doing a net damage to society.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#58Interesting- I always thought the cyberpunk future of self-policed corporate-states would be here eventually, but I didn't think firefighters would be privatized in that manner before police.
I think that firefighers may have technically privatised before hand for resource extraction applications just because they don't like to burn money and the infastructure is generally further away. And well naval damage control is technically a subset of firefighting as well. Of course that isn't quite comparable as it is the opposite of dystopian - simply doing what is neccessary when help is far away.
Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#59Amusing 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.
Is there literally no solution that exists between burying power lines and keeping the lines completely exposed that would be cost effective and improve fire safety by some factor? I imagine insulators in high risk areas might do the trick but I am no high voltage expert.
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Re: Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy
#60This is what dystopia looks like.
Precisely, reminds me of Octavia Butlers' books. (Parable series)