Just a few weeks ago, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Christine Crowley said that about $18 million would be cut from the department's budget, which would affect its ability to respond to emergencies like this week's deadly wildfires. Alert Mayor Karen Bass.
“These cuts have significantly limited the Department's ability to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies such as wildfires,” Secretary Christine Crowley wrote in a Dec. 4, 2024, memo. It is written as follows. NBC Los Angeles reported..
The budget Bass approved last year primarily cut administrative positions, but also cut about $7 million from the overtime budget.
Some of the overtime was used to pay for FAA-mandated pilot training and helicopter coordination staffing to fight wildfires, according to Crowley's memo to the fire commission.
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“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are at risk and aerial firefighting capabilities are reduced,” it reads. “Changes to the aviation operations sector will impact the department's ability to comply with current automatic and mutual aid agreements, provide air ambulance services, and quickly respond to bushfires with water cannon helicopters.”
The memo also said other programs were crippled by budget cuts, including the Disaster Response Division, which funds bulldozer teams to help put out wildfires, and the Critical Incident Planning and Training Division, which organizes response plans for large-scale disasters. He said he would fall.
Bass told reporters Wednesday night that the budget cuts will not hinder LAFD's response to multiple wildfires that have burned parts of the city, killing at least five people and destroying hundreds of homes. “I'm confident,” he said.
