A fire engine, trucks without drinking water and a dozen private firefighters were stationed outside Rick Caruso's Pacific Palisades home Sunday afternoon.
The firefighters said they represented five different private fire departments and were hired by the Los Angeles real estate developer to protect his property and the surrounding neighborhood.
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“And I hear there's more on the way,” said Laron Whitfield, a firefighter who said he arrived from Riverside on Friday with a company called Wildland. “He's smart, he wants to be ready.”
Caruso is one of many residential and commercial property owners who called in private firefighters to help during the deadly firestorms, which overwhelmed L.A. firefighters.
Another firefighter said he was working a 48-hour shift to protect Caruso's “house specifically but also around it” and would be there until 9 a.m. Monday.
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“And then two guys come in to replace me and my partners,” he said.
His full-time job is with the Los Alamitos Fire Department, but with the fires raging since Tuesday, he said he outsourced his services for the first time while he was off duty. He was hired by a company called West Coast Water Tenders; The company's website says it provides “tactical water trucks from 2,500 to 4,000 gallons, sorting equipment and mobile decelerator bases.”
A third firefighter, who said his name was Shane, said that although things appeared calm in the area south of Sunset Boulevard, “it's just a precaution.”
They said their rates for private fire services depended on the contract, with one person estimating they averaged about $20 an hour.
Caruso, a candidate for LA mayor in 2022, owns several shopping centers, including the Grove, the Americana in Glendale and Palisades Village, a retail-residential complex in the heart of the Palisades that was damaged by the fire but is still standing.
On Wednesday, he told the New York Times that he had deployed a private firefighting team to save the complex, which includes a movie theater, Erewhon supermarket, restaurants and retailers including Lululemon and Reformation.
A call to a Caruso representative was not immediately returned Sunday afternoon.
Private fire departments have been a controversial topic in recent years, becoming a symbol of access for the wealthy and drawing criticism for widening class divides during disasters.
The companies say such services are a win-win situation: If a homeowner's home is saved, the insurance company doesn't have to make a large payout. Some are contracted by insurance companies and other times they are hired directly by affluent homeowners.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
