the role of Private Firefighters on the rise

[NightWatcher]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/27/MNNR11S8D0.DTL&hw=California+to+privatize+some+fire+departments&sn=001&sc=1000

Private firefighters' role growing in state

Residents in Piedmont can have a private fire protection company try to save their homes from a wildfire, a luxury not offered to residents living blocks away in a less affluent ZIP code in Oakland.

In Ukiah, Mendocino Redwood Co. hired more than 100 firefighters from an Oregon firm and rented a water-dumping helicopter to battle 31 wildfires that threatened its 229,000 acres of timber in June while state fire crews were engaged elsewhere.

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"We call it the fire industrial complex," said Timothy Ingalsbee, a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter and now executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, a nonprofit in Eugene, Ore., dedicated to environmentally sound fire management. "It's big business, and business is booming."

Critics say contracting out traditionally public functions - a practice that in the Iraq war has led to privately organized security details and troop support services - shifts accountability, can be more expensive and erodes people's confidence in government.

"What's worrying about private firefighters is that there are growing portions of the economy that are banking on, gambling on, that there are going to be more and more natural disasters," said Naomi Klein, author of the book "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." "People are going to forget the point that's actually involved here - solving the problems like Category 5 hurricanes and wildfires."
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[Joanne98]

1. Naomi Klein's been talking about this.

[NightWatcher]

2. yeppers. they are getting rid of the middle class. using chaos to steal

plus, who's to say that when business gets slow someone from the private fire co's "marketing division" doesnt go out and start a fire to "create a niche in the market".