When a major wildfire outside Ketchum, Idaho threatened homes insured by AIG Private Client Group, the company sent private firefighters to spray a barrier of fire retardant on the homes most at risk. According to an AIG spokesman, "We're not only in the business of paying claims, we're in the business of preventing them." The U.S. Forest Service had no problem with this, but the local police were not pleased:
"That sounds ridiculous to me," said Kim Rogers, a Ketchum Police Department spokesman, "especially since we haven't lost any structures. I mean, this is a Forest Service fire, not a private fire."
In completely unrelated news, "federal officials are seeking about $2.25 million in federal aid to help pay for the damage caused by the fire."
