He ran it as a private business, rushing his team to burning buildings, where they intimidated and drove away rival firefighters, then stood about until Crassus had negotiated a price to put out the fire with the building’s distraught owners. If no deal could be reached, the firefighters simply allowed the structures to burn to the ground. Crassus would then offer the owners a derisory sum to purchase the smoking site. This meant that he quickly managed to buy up much of Rome, and amassed a fortune as a result. Fortunately, modern-day fire brigades work on a more honest basis.
