Interesting AP story: Insurers hire firefighters to protect Colorado homes

The Associated Press is reporting that insurance companies have been hiring firefighters and sending them to protect high-value properties threatened by the Colorado wildfires. From the article:

For insurers, hiring their own crew is worth the cost. They spend thousands on well-equipped, federally rated firefighters, potentially saving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to replace a home and its contents.

Insurance companies began sending crews to wildfires around 2006, said Paul Broyles, former head of fire operations at the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates federal firefighting efforts from Boise, Idaho.