As southern California fires ripped through some of the poshest neighborhoods in the country, teams of private firefighters arrived on the scene with a singular mission — to protect their client’s multimillion-dollar estate.
The catch? This elite service is reserved for those who’ve shelled out big bucks for private firefighting insurance.
Today, private firefighting insurance is a multi-million dollar market fueled by climate change, rising wildfire risks, and rising inequality.
On the surface, this industry sounds a bit dystopian. But private firefighting is far from being a new phenomenon. In fact, as you’ll learn today, its roots stretch all the way back to Ancient Rome.
This issue dives deep into the fiery, under-discussed world of private firefighting insurance. I’ll explore its origins, evolution, and the implications it holds for our modern world.
Because when the heat is on, history shows that who gets saved isn’t always left to chance. Note: Grab the All-Access Pass to read the full issue.
Let’s go 👇
Table of Contents
What is private firefighting insurance?
Private firefighting insurance is a specialized policy that provides clients access to private firefighting teams dedicated to safeguarding their property.
How does it work?
The service breaks down into three areas:
Prevention
A big part of this industry is protecting homes before a fire hits.
The first thing companies do is evaluate a property to identify vulnerabilities and implement proactive measures (trimming trees, clearing chapparal, and creating fire breaks)
“We clean, we sweep, we clear gutters, we take away the places where the embers can ignite on the property.”
– David Torgerson, chairman of private firefighting firm Wildfire Defense Systems
Active defense
When a fire breaks out, private firefighters are dispatched to a client’s property. (You don’t need to call them — a private crew is sent automatically.)
They apply fire-retardant gels, seal up vents to prevent embers from floating in, and, if necessary, directly combat flames.
Private firefighters are allowed to tap into public fire hydrants when needed. But this is rarely necessary, as they usually roll up with their own water trucks, or hook into hydrants already installed on the homeowners’ property.
Post-fire services
After a fire, the team inspects the property for residual hazards, removes combustible materials, and assesses damage.
Who hires private firefighters?
There’s a misconception that private firefighting crews are hired directly by high-net-worth individuals.
In reality, insurance companies are the ones hiring private firefighting crews. Insurers like AIG and Chubb contract these companies and typically offer it as an optional add-on to high-end homeowner policies.
For clients, the appeal is clear: These services offer personalized protection that public fire departments — often overstretched and underfunded — simply cannot guarantee.
The surprising history of private firefighting
I first recall hearing about this concept years ago, while watching a documentary on Ben Franklin — a famous early advocate of using private fire brigades.
However, when I brought the topic up in the Alts community, our author Brian Flaherty noted that it dates back much further:
“Oh it dates back much further than [Franklin]. Crassus, the richest man in ancient Rome, had a private team of firefighting slaves.”
Ancient Rome: The predatory dawn of private firefighting
Private firefighting insurance may seem like a modern, “late stage capitalism” concept, but Brian was right — its roots stretch back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.
And the story is wild (sorry).
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman General who famously created what most consider the first private firefighting brigade. Crassus’s operation wasn’t just innovative — it was opportunistic and predatory.
Crassus’s method was simple and ruthless. When a fire broke out, his brigade would rush to the scene, but not extinguish the flames.
Instead, Crassus would negotiate with the property owner, offering to buy the burning building at a steep discount.
If the owner accepted, Crassus’s brigade would quickly put out the fire. If the owner refused, the building was left to burn.
“Observing how natural and familiar at Rome were such fatalities as the conflagration and collapse of buildings…he proceeded to buy houses that were afire, and houses which adjoined those that were afire, and these their owners would let go at a trifling price owing to their fear and uncertainty.”
– From Plutarch’s Life of Crassus
This early (and ruthless) version of capitalizing on desperation via distressed real estate investing made Crassus one of the wealthiest men in Rome.
But karma came back, and Crassus’ greedy life came to a grim and fitting end during the Battle of Carrhae, a military campaign against the Parthian Empire (modern-day Iran).
One infamous (and possibly apocryphal) version of the story claims the Parthians poured molten gold down Crassus’s throat as a mockery of his insatiable greed.
17th century London: The birth of fire insurance
Crassus’s brigade laid the groundwork for the development of private fire protection services that continued into later centuries.
In 1666, the devastating Great Fire of London underscored the need for organized fire protection. In response, private insurance companies began to emerge, starting with Nicholas Barbon’s Fire Office.
In 1680, a physician named Nicholas Barbon took a break from medicine to make history. He founded the Fire Office in London — the first-ever joint-stock company for fire insurance in the city, and quite possibly the entire world.
Early London insurance companies didn’t outsource the actual fire protection — they built their own firefighting crews.
That’s right — each private insurance company established its own fire brigade to protect their insured properties. (This incentivized smart prevention, too. Clients got cheaper rates if they built with brick instead of wood, because, well, logic.)
There were very few proper addresses at the time, so homeowners purchased fire marks to display outside thier home and indicate coverage from a specific ompany. This system ensured that a company’s brigade could identify and save properties bearing their mark.
Yes, sometimes things got messy in terms of fire responsibility. But contrary to popular belief, companies did not let homes insured by other companies burn. In fact they cooperated — even competed to see who could extinguish the flames first.
Eventually, this cooperation led to a solution where all insurance companies would contribute to a central municipal authority responsible for fire prevention and response — i.e., London’s first public fire services.
Colonial America: The Franklin Influence
Ben Franklin indeed helped lay the foundation for modern firefighting.
Across the Atlantic in 1736, the founding father created the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia. Known as “Franklin’s Bucket Brigade” (which is admittedly a way cooler name) this was one of the first volunteer firefighting companies in the American colonies.
This wasn’t just a noble endeavor; it was a practical response to a growing problem. Fires were a constant threat in the dense wooden neighborhoods of colonial cities, and Franklin saw an opportunity to organize and mitigate that risk.
But Franklin’s vision didn’t stop at volunteer brigades. In 1752, he co-founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, which was America’s first fire insurance company.
Franklin’s approach to fire safety was rooted in collaboration, community, and above all, prevention.
As he once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” — a principle that applies not just to fire protection, but countless areas of modern risk management.
The private firefighting market today
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- Insurance companies who currently offer the service
- The top five private firefighting firms
- The international landscape
- Interesting firefighting startups you should know about
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Closing thoughts
Private firefighting carries an oddlly negative connotation that I never quite understood.
Don’t get me wrong — I get why it can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.
This viral post from a prolific real estate investor is a perfect example:
And one could argue that by prioritizing high-value properties, private firefighting exacerbates inequality. It also has a non-zero effect on public resources (we’ve seen incidents of private co’s stepping on public toes) and could potentially weaken public fire departments in underfunded areas.
But I think private firefighting is one of those things that sort of feels wrong without actually being that bad.
When you leaf through history, you quickly realize this industry isn’t anything new. In fact, the world may be better off if there were more private brigades fighting fires, and more insurers offered this as standard coverage.
Climate change is real, destructive fires will only continue, and it’s all hands on deck to keep people safe.
If insurance companies continue to help make private fire protection mainstream — if this industry evolves into something not just for the rich, but for all homeowners — then we’ll all likely be better off.
This world has a history of cooperation between the public and private sectors. Private firefighers can provide additional manpower and specialized equipment, helping to protect properties that might otherwise be vulnerable due to stretched public firefighting capabilities.
In other words, insurance companies and private firefighters aren’t the bad guys*
*Except for Crassus, that guy was an ass. 🧯
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That’s all for today!
Share your thoughts on this topic in the Alts community.
Until next time,
Stefan
Disclosures
- This issue was written and researched by Stefan von Imhof
- This issue was sponsored by Sen-Jam Pharmaceuticals
- Neither Alts nor Altea has any current holdings in any companies mentioned in this issue
- This issue contains no affiliate links.
- This is a paid issue. To read the full thing you need the All-Access Pass 🎟️
