Freddy Escobar, president of the United Fire Brigades of Los Angeles County (UFLAC), told Breitbart News on Monday that the Palisades fire is the latest example of Los Angeles being ignored by its leaders.
“I was on the board of directors [of the Los Angeles Fire Department] “The LAFD has been ignored by our leaders for 17 years, and for decades now,” he said. “They're not addressing a severely understaffed fire department. We need 62 new stations, 100 more firefighters and medics, more engines, more trucks, more medics. We're badly understaffed. There is a shortage of manpower.”
Escobar said the disaster itself was due to polar winds and “the man upstairs.” But the size of the fires, which burned about 24,000 acres in the Palisades Fire alone and another 14,000 acres in the Eaton Fire on the city's east side, was the result of a lack of resources, especially personnel. hours before the fire.
“Was it preventable? I don't know,” he said. “But it could have been more helpful. …If this city, which has been ignored by its leaders for decades, had the resources we have sought and needed.”
The scale of the fire affected the fire station itself: 3 firefighters. lost Protect their homes while fighting the Eaton Fire. Additionally, the disaster was compounded by the absence of Mayor Karen Bass, who left to attend Ghana's presidential inauguration despite knowing there were extremely strong winds that could spread the fire. did.
Firefighters have privately criticized the city's leadership, with one telling Breitbart News that a lack of human resources meant the company was unable to respond to the Palisades fire before last Tuesday's high winds. He said firefighters were not “pre-positioned.”
Escobar agreed, saying Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley had made an “operational funding decision” not to pre-deploy.
“Overtime must be paid,” he explained, noting the department's reluctance to pay. In fact, in Bass' much-criticized text, budgetreduced fire department spending by $17.5 million and reduced the overtime budget by more than $19 million.
The decision was made on January 6, the day before the fire. “We are not deploying all the resources we can to get additional personnel to the scene where there is a red flag.” [high wind] A few days,” Escobar said. In contrast, “Today, tomorrow, we have deployed 42 additional engines,” he said. [and] All pumps were turned on in anticipation of the return of strong Santa Ana winds into Wednesday.
Escobar also accused the Ministry of Water and Power of failing to maintain enough water to fight the fire. He read aloud the following messages he received over the phone from firefighters: Even on the second day…a dry hydrant, or a hydrant with little or no pressure. '' The fact that the Santa Ynez Reservoir at the top of the Pacific Palisades was nearly empty, and has been empty since 2022 through two wet winters, was a factor, he said.
He acknowledged that the hydrant system was “not ready” for a wildfire the size of the Palisades fire, noting that the sudden demand for water reduced the pressure in each available hydrant. Still, he said there is a need for alternative sources of information that can be used in emergencies.
Escobar noted that the burden on L.A. firefighters includes tens of thousands of calls each year to respond to homeless people, which he estimates to be about 100 calls per day.
“We can't sustain what's going on with the homeless calls and the current staffing,” Escobar said.
He added that fire departments' “string budgets” are also hampering efforts to clear brush in urban areas, suggesting that individual fire departments are being stripped of decision-making authority to clear brush from their properties.
Future plans will need to consult with firefighters on issues such as water management and urban planning, he said.
Asked whether LAFD's “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies have impacted the department's hiring ability, Escobar countered that the department's staffing issues are primarily due to budgetary issues. He said it was due to the organization.
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.
