Fire, Inc.

Wildfires are out of control. Last year, California spent more than a billion dollars fighting wildfires, a 150 percent rise in a decade. In response, people like Malibu resident Gisella Guttman — who lost her home in a fire — are now turning to private, for-profit fire protection companies that promise to be there when their clients’ property is threatened. Their main product is a fire retardant gel or foam that they can spray on their customers’ homes if a fire is nearby. You can buy this service for a couple of thousand dollars a year — or get it from your insurance company if you’re a high-end customer. It turns out that this is just the latest firefighting business run by for-profit companies. Last year, an astounding 60 percent of the U.S. Forest Service’s firefighting budget went to private companies — who provided everything from tents and trailers, to planes and helicopters.

But many public, municipal firefighters, like Capt. Eli Iskow of Santa Barbara County Fire Dept., are worried that some of these private firefighters lack training, may get in the way during a wildfire, and worse, might be encouraging some of the recent homebuilding in fire zones by leading people to believe that their new, private policy will protect them.