Private disaster relief services boom
AIG offers members of its exclusive Private Client Group a deal: For $19,000 a year, AIG’s “mobile units” would rush to a customer’s home during wildfires, spray the building with fire retardants, and extinguish flames which get too close to the structure; unlike municipal or state firefighters, the mobile units will protect only insured buildings, letting neighboring homes go up in flames
If you’ve got lemons, make lemonade. If you’ve got diasters, offer privatized disaster relief services. As was proven in the latest California fires, private disaster prevention and relief services are a booming business.
Just look at what is happening in Southern California. The Nation’s Naomi Klein noted that as fires were devouring resdiential areas, some homes in the heart of the inferno were left intact. It was not the hand of God, though: In several cases it was the work of Firebreak Spray Systems. Firebreak is a special service offered to customers of insurance company AIG who live in the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country. Members of AIG’s Private Client Group pay an average of $19,000 to have their homes sprayed with fire retardant. During a wildfire, AIG’s “mobile units” race around in red firetrucks spraying insured buildings with retardants and even extinguishing fires for their clients.
