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A month before fires, lesbian L.A. fire chief warned black DEI mayor budget cuts were hampering emergency response

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Before wildfires broke out across Los Angeles, the city's fire chief said 
that budget cuts were hampering the department's ability to respond to 
emergencies, a department memo shows. 

Funding for the city's fire department decreased by $17.6 million, or 2%, 
between the 2024-25 fiscal year and the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to 
city budget documents. However, the city council in November approved a 
four-year $203 million contract with the firefighter's union to help boost 
wages and health benefits for staff, drawing from the budget's general 
fund.

The budget cuts drew criticism as firefighters scrambled to contain the 
ongoing fires.

In a Dec. 4 memo, LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley wrote to the Board of 
Fire Commissioners that the budget cuts "have adversely affected the 
Department's ability to maintain core operations." 

Crowley said that a $7 million reduction in overtime hours "severely 
limited the Department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond 
to large-scale emergencies" and affected their capacity for brush 
clearance inspections and residential inspections.

The cuts, Crowley wrote in a memo from July 2024, resulted from 
eliminating 58 positions, adjusting sworn salary accounts, and removing 
one-time expenses. Some have pointed to the one-time expenses, such as the 
purchase of new breathing equipment for firefighters, a one reason why 
there may have been a reduction in the current fiscal year's budget 
compared to the year before.

When asked about the budget cuts at Thursday morning's press conference, 
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said they did not impact the department's 
ability to handle the ongoing fires. 

"There were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the 
situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days," she 
said. She also emphasized the additional funds the department was set to 
receive from the city's contract with the union. "The unprecedented wind 
storm, wind at such ferocity that we haven't seen in years, is the context 
in which we were dealing with this." 

In an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, Crowley said that in 
response to the $17.6 million cut, the department reduced non-essential 
responsibilities, but added that the reductions did limit their response 
to the fires "to a certain factor."

"We did exactly what we could with what we had," Crowley said. "Something 
that is significant as this particular fire, I would say we threw exactly 
what we could with what we had."

The Board of Fire Commissioner's office did not immediately respond to a 
request for comment. At the board's Dec. 17 meeting, its president 
Genethia Hudley-Hayes acknowledged the funding and staffing issues. 

"It is not unfair to say that we are in crisis mode within the Los Angeles 
Fire Department," Hudley-Hayes said. "Anybody who knows a council person 
really and truly needs to be either going to city council, talking to 
their council person, talking in their neighborhood councils, doing 
whatever they need to do because we really are at a crisis point."

Los Angeles Fire Department budget

Los Angeles Fire Department budget
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
660M
680M
700M
720M
740M
760M
780M
800M
820M
840M
860M
880M
$900M
Budget2022-23$783M
Budget2022-23$783M
BudgetExpenses
Data is not adjusted for inflation. FY 2023-24 expenses are estimated, and 
FY 2024-25 expenses are not yet available.

The fire department overspent by an estimated $66.6 million in the 2023-24 
fiscal year, this year's budget shows, with unbudgeted contracts, unused 
sick time and overtime accounting for much of the overspending.

In a statement when the budget was approved, Bass said the city budget 
acted as a "reset." 

"This budget serves as a reset, in part by continuing to hire for critical 
positions including police officers and firefighters while eliminating 
some of the department's vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City 
family over empty desks," Bass said.

While the fire department's budget was cut, the police department's budget 
increased by $125.9 million, a roughly 7% increase.

There are 28 fire departments in Los Angeles County in addition to the 
city's fire department. All are responding to the ongoing fires, along 
with firefighters from five additional states. Gov. Gavin Newsom activated 
California National Guard members to help battle the blazes, and the 
Defense Department has also offered equipment and manpower to fight the 
fires.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief-
budget-cuts/

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A month before fires, lesbian L.A. fire chief warned black DEI mayor budget cuts were hampering emergency response DEI at work <dei@work.com> - 2025-01-12 01:44 +0100

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