A Los Angeles firefighter who requested anonymity told Breitbart News on Saturday that a lack of personnel and water is making it difficult to extinguish the Palisades fire, blaming local leaders for cutting funding to the fire service. .
He said the argument that “embers” (sparkles and embers that are blown by the wind and carry fire far) is too thick to save destroyed neighborhoods even though they were far away from the initial fire. He said he couldn't trust it.
“It could have been deployed in advance. [ahead of the fire]. We didn't have the resources. They could have saved buildings like [Rick] Caruso did. Are you saying that the ember casting was too thick? [Palisades unit] There were no resources or water to protect Ralph's home. [the grocery store across from the local fire station]”
Caruso, a businessman and developer, managed to save his Palisades Village mall by hiring a private fire company with its own water trucks.
A video of Caruso's Mall and its surrounding area shows the stark contrast between private and public services.
Caruso also ran in 2022 against Mayor Karen Bass, whose main platform is pro-abortion. Although they lost, they won in Pacific Palisades.
Bass and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom are facing the ire of local residents for failing to protect their communities from a disaster that was not only predictable, but expected. Buses cut local fire department budgets by nearly $20 million; reportedly We are considering even greater reductions in the future before the fires occur.
These reductions affected not only firefighters, but also support personnel needed to maintain equipment. explained From DropSiteNews:
As of May 2, 2024, Los Angeles has 86 out-of-service emergency vehicles. This is because no funds were allocated to hire sheet metal workers or mechanics to repair emergency vehicles. This includes 40 fire engines (carrying water and used to fight the fire), 36 ambulances and 10 fire trucks (carrying equipment such as ladders and rescue supplies). Captain Chun-ho testified “It just makes no sense to shut down or abandon a million-dollar fire truck or engine because we don't have enough mechanics to keep it running,” he said during the budget hearing. ”
As of Sunday morning, the fire had burned about 24,000 acres and was only 11% contained.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
