First a fire broke out in the forest across los angelesThe city's fire chief said budget cuts are hampering the department's ability to respond to emergencies, a department memorandum Shows.
Meanwhile, funding for the city's fire department decreased by $17.6 million, or 2%. 2024-25 financial year and 2023-24 Fiscal year according to city budget documents. However, the City Council in November approved a four-year, $203 million contract with the firefighters union to help boost employee wages and health benefits from the budget's general fund.
Budget cuts criticized as firefighters struggle to contain blazes ongoing fire,
In a December 4 memo, LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley wrote to the Board of Fire Commissioners that budget cuts “have adversely impacted the department's ability to maintain core operations.”
Crowley said the $7 million reduction in overtime hours “severely limited the department's ability to prepare, train and respond to large-scale emergencies” and affected their ability to conduct brush clearance inspections and residential inspections. Did.
Cuts, Crowley wrote in a memorandum From July 2024, resulting in elimination of 58 posts, adjustment of sworn salary accounts and removal of one-time expenses. Some have pointed to one-time expenses, such as the purchase of new breathing apparatus for firefighters, as a reason why the budget for the current fiscal year may be lower than the previous year.
Asked about the budget cut at a Thursday morning press conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said it had no impact on the department's ability to respond to ongoing fires.
“There were no cuts made that would have impacted the situation we were dealing with over the past few days,” he said. He also emphasized the additional funding the department will receive from the city's contract with the union. “Unprecedented storm, winds we haven't seen in years, that's the context in which we were dealing with it.”
Crowley and the Board of Fire Commissioner's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the board's December 17 meeting, its president, Genethea Hudley-Hayes, acknowledged funding and staffing issues.
“It is not unfair to say that we are in a state of crisis within the Los Angeles Fire Department,” Hedley-Hayes said. “Anyone who actually knows someone on council needs to either go to city council, talk to their council person, talk to their neighborhood councils, whatever they need to do. That has to be done because we really are at a crisis point.”
This year's budget shows the fire department spent more than the projected $66.6 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year, including unbudgeted contracts, unused sick time and overtime.
one in statement When the budget was approved, Bass said the city budget served as a “reset.”
“This budget serves as a reset by continuing to hire for critical positions, including police officers and firefighters, while eliminating some of the department's vacant positions,” Bass said, putting our city family first over empty desks. “
While the fire department's budget was cut, the police department's budget increased by $125.9 million, an increase of approximately 7%.
There are 28 fire departments in Los Angeles County in addition to the city fire department. With five firefighters, all responding to the ongoing fire additional stateThe Defense Department has also offered equipment and manpower to help fight the fires
Contributed to this report.