from Hacker News

Kim Kardashian's Private Firefighters Expose the Fault Lines of America

by shenanigoat on 11/14/18, 10:07 PM with 16 comments

• by everybodyknows on 11/15/18, 1:05 AM

  Article fails to explore the apparent conflicts of interest, which remain even if you happen to think it's fair for private parties to hire their own firefighters.

  For a start, are Kim's team allowed to tap public hydrants? This will reduce pressure available to any public firefighters nearby.

• by nunez on 11/15/18, 3:14 AM

  I don’t understand the issue here. Couple buys very expensive item that few others purchase; item is very expensive to insure; for hire firefighters are cheaper than replacing the item (and any dependencies) at a loss; insurers dispatch said firefighters to avoid total loss.

  Doing this for everyone wouldn’t scale, which is why towns have firefighting units.

  Also, people have a weird aversion to insurance for expensive items. So many people (at least on Reddit) advocate against purchasing AppleCare and additional insurance for $1000+ items but balk at the high cost of replacing a broken screen... that’s much cheaper to fix with insurance.

• by elliekelly on 11/14/18, 11:51 PM

  Private firefighters for the wealthy and slave labor fighting the fires for the rest of us. Truly disgusting.

• by bvxvbxbxb on 11/15/18, 5:25 AM

  Fuck Malibu residents and their blocking of beach access, fake signs and generally-selfish chicanery.