across the Pacific Palisades, where started the current Los Angeles fires on January 7, homes and buildings were reduced to rubble, leaving the once bucolic neighborhood ashen and desolate.
But standing amid the rubble, almost completely unscathed, remains Palisades Village, an outdoor shopping center owned by Rick Caruso, the billionaire real estate developer and former Republican mayoral candidate.
To protect the high-end shopping center, several private water tankers, each equipped with 3,000 liters of water, were brought in to fight the fire. ABC News reports.
Water boats at the Palisades Village shopping center in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on January 12, 2025. Private fire crews and water tankers saved the Palisades Village shopping center from destruction while much of the nearby Pacific Palisades neighborhood burned.
Ariana Drehsler/The New York Times/Redux
“Our property is standing,” Caruso said The New York Times on wednesday “Everything around us is gone. It’s like a war zone.”
Caruso did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. On Sunday, he posted on X that he was pledging $5 million to the Los Angeles Firefighters Foundation.
Amid wildfires that have left thousands of Californians homeless, private firefighting companies have sparked controversy and outrage, symbolizing the stark disparity between the lives of the city’s wealthiest residents and those on the left struggling to rebuild.
Most private firefighters don’t work to serve individual clients, experts told ABC News. In most cases, they are hired by the government, assisting local firefighters, or by insurance companies, usually working to prevent damage.
But some private firefighters offer their services to the public, a practice that has surprised and angered many as it has entered its public existence. In 2018Firefighters dubbed the “concierge” saved Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s Hidden Hills mansion — along with their neighbors’ homes — in the Woolsey fire, according to reports at the time.
Trevor Pratt, a San Francisco City firefighter, searches for hot spots among homes burned by the Palisades fire on Jan. 13, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California.
John Locher/AP
On Tuesday, real estate investor Keith Wasserman sparked outrage after he posted to X about it.
“Does anyone have access to a private fire department to protect our house? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses are burning down. Will pay any amount,” he wrote in a now-deleted post.
Wasserman’s post sparked backlash as users slammed the businessman. He later deleted his account. Wasserman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Due to the private nature of these services, it is not yet clear how widespread the use of private firefighters has become in fighting fires in Los Angeles. Prices are not clearly listed, and can vary widely, likely costing several thousand a day, The New York Times reported.
“I’ll be honest with you, we get a lot of calls in situations like this from private landowners who are interested in hiring some private resources to help mitigate the fire risk,” Deborah Miley, executive director of the National Wildfire Suppression Association. Representing more than 300 private firefighting companies, he told ABC News.
A person walks through the destruction left by the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 9, 2025.
Jae C. Hong/AP
While most private fire companies focus exclusively on government and insurance company work, some openly offer their services to individual clients. Allied Disaster Defence, which Los Angeles Times reported that it sent workers to fight recent fires, has a page on its website advertising “private client services.” The company offers to sign non-disclosure agreements to provide its services to “high net worth individuals and even celebrities.”
Public backlash aside, the employment of private firefighters in such severe fires can be “very dangerous,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuña told ABC News.
“Where it becomes a problem, they don’t come under our chain of command. We don’t know what personal protective equipment they have, and we don’t have radio contact,” said Acuña.
Acuña said that he does not have a problem with private firefighters who work in advance to prevent fire damage, but in a disaster like the one that is happening, official firefighters can get in the way of doing their job.
“All of those people are people that we’re going to have to go in and rescue if they stay in the area too long, and that takes away from us being able to attack the fire,” he said.
While the wildfires continue to rage wildly, Acuña stressed that the local firefighters will continue to work on the ground to fight the flames.
“We have a responsibility to the public, not to our customers,” he said.
