L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (D) last month that her budgets to the department were putting the city at serious risk for wildfires because the cuts limited the department’s ability to respond.
In a memo dated December 4, 2024, Crowley wrote that the nearly $18 million in cuts “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished,” Crowley wrote in the memo that was presented last month to the Board of Fire Commissioners, a panel of mayoral appointees who oversee the management of the Department, according to a local NBC News affiliate.
Crowley said that the overtime hours funded “Heavy Equipment Operators (HEOs) who make fire control lines around wildland fires, manage firefighting robotics, wildland fire road maintenance, post-fire demolition services, and other allhazard emergency services.”
“Ultimately, loss of funding impairs the Department’s ability to mitigate wildland fires and other hazards effectively,” she wrote.
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The loss of the funding “increases risks during large-scale emergencies and events,” Crowley said, specifically noting that it meant that there would be delays in clearing brush and other preventive measures to stop major wildfires from breaking out.
“The LAFD’s ability to respond to large-scale emergencies, such as wildfires, earthquakes, and hazardous materials incidents, is significantly diminished, increasing risks to both public and firefighter safety,” she added.
Bass has faced intense scrutiny throughout the ordeal after she was initially missing in action because she was taking a trip more than 7,000 miles away in the African nation of Ghana.
Multiple fires have broken out throughout Los Angeles, destroying tens of thousands of acres of land and well over 1,100 structures.
