As wildfires sweep through Los Angeles, devastating Pacific Palisades and surrounding communities, many people on the Internet are blaming the mayor and budget cuts for the devastation.
Critics include Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. “Fires in Los Angeles are no surprise,” Soon-Shiong wrote on X on January 8, “but the mayor cut the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by $23 million.”
City records show Mayor Karen Bass in April proposed cutting the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget by $23 million as the city's tax revenue fell and costs rose. The City Council revised and approved the budget in May, cutting the department's budget by $17.6 million. Bass signed the city budget in June, providing about $819.6 million for the fire department, a 2% decrease from the 2023-2024 budget.
City officials, including Bass, insist the cuts have not affected the department's response to the fires. They noted that unprecedented winds fanned the flames and made them nearly impossible to extinguish.
Local fire officials also said high winds made it difficult for firefighters to overcome the conditions, but they also reiterated that systemic underfunding and recent budget cuts hamper the department's ability to respond to emergencies like wildfires.
The June budget eliminated 73 vacant civilian positions and reduced available overtime by $7.9 million. Fire Chief Christine Crowley said the cuts impact "core operations," including payroll and community education programs.
Bass's budget signing comes as the city separately negotiates a new contract with the Los Angeles United Firefighters union over pay increases. City Council officials told fact-checking website PolitiFact that the city provided an additional $76 million for fire department wages after negotiations concluded in November.
As a result, the department's total budget for 2024-2025 ends up being $895.6 million.
The budget increase is specifically for salaries and does not address areas of budget or resource cuts that local fire officials say are needed to adequately serve the community.
The council also approved $58 million for new fire trucks and other department purchases, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Fire Chief's Comments on Department Funding
In December, Crowley wrote a memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners, a five-member civilian board that oversees the department and is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Crowley warned that cuts to civilian positions and overtime hours undermine the department's ability to complete core functions and respond to large-scale emergencies.
In a Jan. 10 interview, CBS News' Norah O'Donnell asked Crowley about the $17.6 million cut and whether it would have any impact on the department's impact on the department. The response to the fire, which started on January 7, is having an impact. Crowley said the department has reduced "non-essential" responsibilities. After more inquiries, Crowley said the cuts "somewhat" limited the department's response to the fires.
Crowley told O'Donnell the department used all available resources, but high winds complicated the response.
"I would say in this windy weather, ... if I had 1,000 engines to put out this fire, I honestly don't think the 1,000 engines that we had at that time could put out this fire."
However, in an interview with Los Angeles' Fox 11 on Friday, Crowley was more vocal about the impact of the cuts on the response, saying the department was not "properly" funded.
"Yes, it's been cut, and it does impact our ability to provide services," she said. "Any budget cuts will impact our ability to deliver services."
Freddy Escobar, president of the local firefighters union, told The New York Times that the elimination of the positions means fewer mechanics are available to maintain the department's trucks and engines, and that the fire chief can also pay firefighters overtime. fee.
Crowley's Dec. 4 memo is not the first letter she has sent expressing budget concerns.
Crowley told the fire commission in a separate memo in November that the department had not grown much in size since the 1960s, even as the city's population exploded, The New York Times reported. She wrote that despite a sharp increase in call volumes, the city did not allocate enough personnel or new fire stations to effectively respond to emergencies.
Meanwhile, Bass said at a Jan. 8 news conference that she was "confident" that the fire department's budget was not impacting its ability to respond to wildfires. She hinted that the fire department will spend more than it budgeted for this year.
Fire department public information officer Jacob Robbie said at the same press conference that the fire was "absolutely unprecedented" and that no fire department could have been prepared to respond. He did not answer questions about the department's budget or training, referring those questions to Crowley, who had left the news conference.
At a news conference a day later, Bass said the damage was caused by the severity of the fires, not the department's budget, citing additional wages negotiated in November.
"If you go back and look at the cuts that were made, there were none that impacted what we've been dealing with over the past few days," Bass said. "There was a little bit of confusion because the funds were allocated later, which was really To support fire department salaries and other portions to be allocated later.”
City Administrator Matt Szabo told the Los Angeles Times that the fire department's overall overtime budget increased by nearly $18 million this year. He said the budget cuts did not limit the number of firefighters working the Palisades fire or their hours.