Last week's devastating wildfires in California left my community in ruins, and the harsh lessons are clear. Private services work, public services don't.
I live in the Pacific Palisades. My house is the last house on the corner. Debris remains in all directions. The roadside where my wife and I often walked in the evenings is an apocalyptic scene. All the beautiful homes we admired were destroyed. All the kids our kids played with are gone.
A mile away, the town center (we call it the “village”) is the scene of similar destruction. The stately business block, a 100-year-old landmark, is now haunted by a blackened façade. Family-run shops and boutiques are heaps of smoldering brick and twisted metal.
But across the street is still the glitzy Palisades Village Mall, owned by billionaire Rick Caruso. The lights are on and the high-end store looks ready for business.
Caruso reportedly built the mall using new fire-resistant materials. More importantly, they used civilian firefighters.
A huge water truck remained parked outside the mall for several days after the fire was extinguished. Caruso knew before we did that the city, county, and state of Los Angeles would not protect us. After all, he himself was the head of the Ministry of Water and Power 40 years ago. He knew the system was not prepared for disaster.
Caruso is not alone. Currently, there are approximately 15 private fire brigades in the town. Additionally, some private security companies, without formal firefighting training, were able to ignore evacuation orders and protect the properties they monitored by spraying water on homes and yards throughout the night. .
While residents are grateful to police and firefighters for doing their best, there has never been a more stark contrast between the private and public sectors.
of wall street journal — No longer delivering to my address — Online report About how private fire departments and private fire hydrants worked in the Palisades and Malibu during the fires.
The verdict was “a stunning success”. Yes, it's expensive, but it's effective.
Caruso knew that. He wanted to share his knowledge with others. That's why he's running for mayor in 2022. He lost to Democratic apparatchik Karen Bass by a 10-point margin. Voters regret it, but it's too late.
I still have a house. That's partly due to sheer luck. For one thing, the fig trees lining the fence protected the house from embers. And part of the blame was apparently on the neighbors who hosed down the burning fence. But that's also because the media were able to check out the home after arriving there.
My fence caught fire, and so did my neighbor's fence and their trees. We had to use buckets of water from the gutter to put out the fire. This is our own private fire service.
I have spent the last 10 days documenting the fire. At least during the day, I'm one of the only locals in town. Since I was the only person on the scene who knew about the town, the police and fire departments requested various types of help.
I sent my neighbors photos and videos of an abandoned house that they are prohibited from visiting due to sentimental reasons and insurance claims. It was a brutal experience. There were times when I cried while doing it.
The landscape has an unforgettable beauty. The mountain and ocean views are as dramatic as ever, but now they're surrounded by steel frames, lonely chimneys, and burnt-out cars.
Images of hope occasionally appear, such as a rainbow appearing in the spray of a fireman's hose. Buddha sitting quietly, buried up to his neck in ashes. A local public school's towering seagull logo, a tile mosaic that survived the fire.
But will I ever be able to return here? My son wants to go home. He begs me to take him on patrol, but the police and National Guard will never let him.
He still doesn't understand reality. He is one of two children in a fourth-grade class of 23 and still has a home. His friends are in faraway suburbs and even out of state. By the time children fill this street again, his childhood will be a memory.
I have a friend in South Africa who is about the same age as me. He lives in Johannesburg, where public services are in a state of collapse. The streets are full of potholes. Traffic lights don't work. Power outages are common. Water is sporadic. And the police are either corrupt or incompetent.
Still he is very happy. He told me the reason. Because he has his own generator. He has his own private security. And he has his own well. If you can afford all of them, you're good to go.
California is the world's fifth largest economy. But abandoning public services in favor of private ones is a sign of Third World decline.
We were already witnessing this corruption in public schools. Although there were exceptions, such as the school that burned down next to our house, many of us believed that the corruption could be contained.
The Black Lives Matter riots shattered that illusion. In retrospect, the ruling political party's deliberate sabotage of public safety proved decisive.
I still believe in the future of Pacific Palisades. But when I attended a town hall Thursday night, where L.A. officials were praising their great work, my stomach turned. No one took responsibility, but the county fire chief at least apologized to the residents who lost their homes.
All should have resigned. They don't because they don't actually work for the public. This is not third world California.
If there is a future here, it is private.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
