DIY Firefighting In California
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A couple of weeks ago, a lightning storm brought fire season to Northern California earlier than usual. When the fires broke out, it looked as though a volcano had erupted in front of my mom's house in Sonoma. Smoke filled the entire Bay Area like an apocalyptic fog. It smelled like campfire everywhere, and exercising outdoors became like smoking a half pack of cigarettes.
"I miss when it was just a pandemic and depression," my mom told me.
While multiple historic fires blazed, it became clear that there's a shortage of firefighters, airplanes and firetrucks to combat them. The state is doing what it can, but many calls for help have gone unanswered. It's been a similar story over the past few years. It's why Californians are increasingly taking matters into their own hands — creating a growing market for DIY firefighting.
As California entered this fire season, people began trying to sell used firetrucks on the Bay Area's Craigslist. One Craiglister posted a 1975 GMC firetruck for $7,000 or best offer. "Save yourself from a disaster," they wrote. A man named Paul posted a 1982 Ford firetruck for $15,000. He assures it's "in good working order." But there's a catch: "for pick up in North Dakota." That's a 30-hour drive away.
A company called Vans From Japan has gotten into a business you might call firetruck arbitrage. You know, buying firetrucks in one place and making a profit by selling them in another place where they're more valuable. The Sacramento-based company has a whole fleet of tiny firetrucks imported from Japan that it's trying to sell on Craigslist.
Lance Williams is selling a 1967 Ford F750 4x4 fire engine for $15,000. "With these lightning complex fires going on, maybe you could use it," he writes in his Craigslist post. Williams is a former motorcycle racer based in Lake County, Calif., who now works in the cannabis industry. He says he bought his fire engine at a government auction in Kansas with the intention of using it to protect his cannabis farm. His Lake County property burned down in the 2015 Valley Fire, and he didn't want that to happen again. (He sent us a picture of what the Valley Fire did to his Toyota 4Runner. The blaze melted its aluminum wheels into flowing streams.)
This is a satirical website. Don't take it Seriously. It's a joke.
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