![]() Insurance giant AIG describes its “ Wildfire Protection Unit ” as a “complimentary service.” However, according to its website those services are only available to its Private Client Group, which is “custom-designed for high-end properties.”ĪIG did not respond to emailed interview requests.Įric Samansky is with Chubb, another insurance provider that offers this service to all clients in fire-prone areas across 18 states. It’s a partial solution.”īut how easy is it to get that coverage for the average homeowner? That’s not clear. “Quietly in the background, these insurer programs have been growing and contributing in a strong way and creating better results to the extent possible and contributing to these incidents,” he says. And either way, he says, the more resources for these raging fires the better. He adds most of the homes have been average value - not million-dollar mansions. They help fire-proof properties before blazes hit homes. Since 2008 he says his crews have responded to more than 550 wildfires that included thousands of private properties. Like other private companies, Torgerson continues to contract with state and federal government but now he’s also working with about a dozen private insurers. Torgerson says his company is now bigger than many state firefighting agencies. “This contribution from the insurance industry is here to stay,” he says. Then more recently, the private insurance industry got involved and started offering private firefighting services on its home policies.ĭavid Torgerson is president of Bozeman-based Wildfire Defense Systems - the largest private firefighting group in the country. ![]() Starting in the 1980s, the Forest Service began facing tighter budgets and more destructive fires so it started contracting with private firefighting companies to help out. ![]() It’s all part of a new spin on a recent trend. On this day Kurth has four of his engines, and about eight personnel, on the ground in California And right now, the Camp Fire, the most destructive blaze in California’s history, continues to smolder. Forest Service spent more than $2 billion suppressing fires. “We got out of the horse business, so we converted this horse barn into our fire cache and shop,” he says.Īnd he says those firefighting services are increasingly in demand. They have the same baseline certifications as federal firefighters. This is now where his crews prep for their 14-day assignments. “I used to run up to 15 stallions each season.” “I decided to leave those up,” says Troy Kurth, CEO of the private firefighting company Rocky Mountain Fire. In a barn outside of Missoula, a sign on the door reads: “STALLION Do Not Enter.” Amidst the flames, a seemingly new trend has emerged – a two-tiered system with private firefighting resources for those who can afford them, and a system stretched thin for the rest. The fires still burning across California have left more than 80 dead, and hundreds are still missing. We’ve had a brutal fire season this year.
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