‘We don’t know when we’re going to go home’: Private security in Palisades say they’re working around the clock

Arturo Garcia said he’s been working in the Palisades for 17 hours nonstop. His partner has been awake for over 24.

Like the firefighters he was surrounded by the night before, he’s guarding homes — not against the flames, but against looters, who might see opportunity in an affluent neighborhood suddenly deserted.

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Five people have died, but officials say the death toll is likely to be higher. More than 2,000 structures have burned and at least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders. Experts say L.A. is not out of danger yet and these fires have the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history.

“We’re the only two guards that are up here,” said Garcia, standing feet away from one of the stately homes he’s been paid to protect. “We don’t know when we’re going to go home.”

Garcia, a deputy sheriff, said many private security companies work in the neighborhood. But his company, Nastec, had been the only one out there during the fires that have engulfed the area.

He and his partner joined fire trucks and police cars as some of the few vehicles patrolling the streets Wednesday with most of the neighborhood cordoned off.

Arturo Garcia said the security company he works for, Nastec, had been the only one out there during the fires that have engulfed the area.

(Rebecca Ellis / Los Angeles Times)

He won’t say how many clients he has in the neighborhood. Only that “it’s a bunch” — and they are getting what they paid for.

In the last 24 hours, they have chased a “tag team duo” on a moped off a client’s property. They caught one man leaving another home with a luxury bag filled with what he suspects was the family’s Christmas haul: a drone and a toy car. They sent his photo to the LAPD.

“We actively patrol nonstop just driving around,” said Garcia. “As soon as they see the lights on the top, [looters] know.”

And when smoke started coming out of another client’s home, they didn’t need to call the fire department — they just flagged a passing truck to put it out.

It’s one of the few homes still standing.