Palisades shop owner questions why private firefighters saved nearby stores, not hers

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A Palisades business owner whose skate shop was destroyed in the recent wildfire, despite private firefighters saving all the surrounding businesses, is now looking for answers.  

Erica Simpson has owned and operated Paliskates skateboarding store on Swarthmore Avenue for the last 25 years, long before Rick Caruso developed the street and the area surrounding her business into what is now known as Palisades Village.  

Unlike most of the businesses on Swarthmore, Paliskates is not a tenant of Caruso’s.  

The use of private firefighters has garnered controversy from critics who say those resources should be available to everyone, but Caruso’s team said that if it wasn’t for their private firefighters, businesses in Palisades Village and several nearby homes would not have survived firestorm.  

On Jan. 8, a day after the Palisades Fire erupted, Simpson was relieved to hear Palisades Village survived. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that Paliskates employees captured video of the fire-gutted skateboard shop.  

Simpson told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe that she doesn’t know when or how her skate shop caught fire but does think that it’s strange since there are photos of firefighting vehicles and water tenders lined up and parked in front of her shop.  

“Why if there are firefighters present did nobody put out the fire here?” she asked.  

It’s also unclear to Simpson if the Los Angeles Fire Department could even see her building burning or had access to it.  

“I think we don’t know enough about private firefighters and how they work with the fire department,” she said. “I do think people should find out more about it and how they are protected.”  

When asked about her concerns, Caruso’s team did not want to go on camera but provided KTLA with the following statement: 

“At Caruso, our priority is always the safety and well-being of our tenants, residents, guests, employees, and communities. As part of that commitment, Caruso maintains an Emergency Rapid Response Team whose scope includes private fire response at all our properties. In the case of the Palisades fires, our Emergency Rapid Response Team worked in conjunction with the Los Angeles Fire Department to safeguard Palisades Village, and where we could, the surrounding homes and businesses, including Paliskates, to mitigate damage wherever possible.”