Name: Private firefighting crews spark conflict after alleged illegal backfires in Glass Fire
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Private firefighting crews spark conflict after alleged illegal backfires in Glass Fire

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A contentious relationship that has worsened over the past decade came to a head last weekend when Cal Fire investigators detained a crew of private firefighters who allegedly started their own illegal backfires to protect a Wine Country property.A flood of the firefighters-for-hire drove into the Glass Fire blaze as it threatened expensive homes and multimillion-dollar wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties. Though it’s been happening for years, fire officials say the number of private firefighting crews is rising, and with it the potential for conflict in the fire zone.Sometimes private firefighters are contracted by Cal Fire and other public agencies, but often they’re hired by private insurance companies to guard wealthy customers’ properties. They’ve drawn the ire of Cal Fire officials and union heads who say they often add more headaches than help in fighting the fires that have scorched the state in record numbers in recent years.“It’s very serious, it really is,” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said of the incident. “We have rules in play for life and safety.”Cal Fire has provided about the alleged illegal backfires set during red flag peak fire danger conditions, saying only they were started by private firefighters last weekend as part of the Glass Fire, a blaze that has burned more than 67,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,500 structures. A KGO television crew a private fire crew being detained by the California Highway Patrol and Cal Fire last week. Firefighters have contained about 75% of the fire that had threatened Calistoga.McLean said Cal Fire’s probe into the backfires should be completed within a week.AB2380, a 2018 bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, increased regulation of the private firefighting industry, but problems persist.Firefighters must check in with incident command when they arrive at a fire and show proper documentation, working radios and a list of properties they are there to protect. They can travel to those houses only if there is no evacuation order in that area, McLean said. These firefighters are private citizens, he stressed, and must evacuate when an order goes out.At the homes, the insurance firefighters have one job — to improve the property’s defensible space. Once they complete a project, they are supposed to move to the next home.“When they are done, they leave and check out with the incident command,” McLean said. “At no time are they supposed to engage in a fire fight.”And lighting backfires is strictly off-limits. Even Cal Fire must follow strict guidelines in order to start a backfire — “it’s not arbitrarily done,” McLean said.Firefighters study topography, current and forecast weather, regional patterns, dozer lines, aircraft availability and road closures, among other variables, before setting a backfire. And communicating it to incident command is a must.“You can see the puzzle and what could happen,” McLean said. “A lack of communication will kill somebody.”Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, which represents more than 30,000 members, calls the influx of private firefighters the “wildfire profiteering complex.”“To have private contractors literally go rogue and put fire on the ground, and you can quote me on this, it’s felony criminal,” Rice said. “To me as a firefighter it is one of the most negligent acts you can do on a fire ground.“They’re here to make a profit on your disaster,” Rice said. “It’s plain and simple. This is about making a profit.”Calls and emails to Wildfire Defense Systems, the leading private firefighter insurance company contractor, were not immediately returned Friday. A spokeswoman for the National Wildfire Suppression Association, which represents firefighters contracted by state and federal agencies, said the crews it represents are different from the insurance company crews that do only structure protection. The association said there are more than 10,000 private firefighters in the country on government contracts and 11,000 pieces of equipment, such as fire trucks, providing 40% of resources to wildland fire response. On its website, the group defends its work and said more than 8,000 private wildland firefighters received training by certified instructors in 2017.David Torgerson, CEO of Montana firm Wildfire Defense Systems, said his company has fought more than 900 wildfires, including 70 in California this year. He called the Glass Fire illegal backfire allegations an anomaly in an with the Los Angeles Times.“This very small fraction of wildfire contractors is getting all this attention,” he said, “and that’s what they’re referring to in those media articles.”Mark Grissom has more than two decades of wildfire experience working for the U.S. Forest Service and for a period of time was a private firefighter. While backfires are the most efficient firefighting tactic, he said, putting fire on the ground for private firefighters is a no-no.“It could technically put a lot of people in danger,” he said. “You can’t have private firefighters putting fire on the ground without everyone on board, especially in these conditions we’re having.”Having been on both sides of wildfire suppression, Grissom said there’s a difference in knowledge and experience.Private firefighters “are most definitely not trained well. They have a very unlinked chain of command many times,” Grissom said. “People are put in positions they are not qualified for whatsoever.”Latest updates on wildfires burning across Northern and Southern CaliforniaThe issues have led to a delicate relationship between Cal Fire and private firefighters.“Cal Fire has a deep distaste for the private sector,” Grissom said.The divide can be seen on a Facebook group dedicated to wildland firefighters.“Contractors carry the workload of the fire ... while Cal Fire sits on their asses,” one poster wrote.Another countered: “Nondispatched, unassigned crews putting others lives at risk to protect their clients investment.”California WildfiresAnd the insurance firefighters have also received criticism for providing protection only for the toniest properties that can afford the pricey insurance. The resistance came after private firefighters were credited with helping save Kim Kardashian’s $60 million Calabasas (Los Angeles County) mansion from the Woolsey Fire in 2018.A couple near the Glass Fire origin told The Chronicle an AIG firefighting team saved their multimillion-dollar mansion from burning after they fled for their lives near St. Helena.Torgerson, however, told the Times that 90% of the properties his company serves are “average-value homes” and such insurance coverage is available to everyone.As this fire season continues its record-setting rampage with 4 million-plus acres burned, more private firefighters will be headed into active fire zones, which concerns Cal Fire’s McLean.“When insurance firefighters come in, it’s another layer of oversight, and firefighters are concerned about them,” he said. “We’re willing to work with insurance companies, but when it comes to fire safety we’re not going to deviate.”Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Latest updates on wildfires burning across Northern and Southern California

A contentious relationship that has worsened over the past decade came to a head last weekend when Cal Fire investigators detained a crew of private firefighters who allegedly started their own illegal backfires to protect a Wine Country property.A flood of the firefighters-for-hire drove into the Glass Fire blaze as it threatened expensive homes and multimillion-dollar wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties. Though it’s been happening for years, fire officials say the number of private firefighting crews is rising, and with it the potential for conflict in the fire zone.Sometimes private...

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Matthias Gafni

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Private firefighting crews spark conflict after alleged illegal backfires in Glass Fire

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