Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Christine Crowley said the city has failed to save more than 100,000 people forced to evacuate from the ongoing wildfire siege.
Asked by Fox News affiliate KTTV if the city of Los Angeles and its mayor, Karen Bass, had failed the city, Crowley said, “Yes.”
Crowley said impending staffing shortages affected the department's response time as fires began breaking out across Los Angeles.
“If budgets are cut, it will impact our ability to provide services,” she said. “That's the truth about our capabilities. If the budget was cut, we had to source elsewhere. What does that mean? If it wasn't achieved or if there was a delay. I will.”
LA Fire warns of budget cuts affecting wildfire response: Memo
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Christine Crowley speaks during a press conference at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the West Carson neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday, February 15, 2024. (Richard Vogel/Associated Press)
Crowley said understaffing and resource shortages have been pressing issues facing the department for years. She pointed to a series of memos she sent to the city that identified in detail the department's needs.
“From day one, we recognized there were significant gaps in service delivery and the ability of firefighters on the ground to accomplish their mission,” she said. “This is our third budget for 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is that we remain understaffed, under-resourced and under-funded.”
California wildfires wreak havoc in Los Angeles County, killing 5 people and threatening thousands of homes
Asked about the budget cuts, which cut the budget by $17,553,814 from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423, Crowley said: “It certainly impacted our ability to provide services.” said.
“On a normal day, our firefighters handle more than 1,500 calls and transport 650 patients per day, especially over the past three days,” she said.
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The problems facing fire departments are “not new problems,” Crowley told local media.
“Today, the number of calls our firefighters are dispatched to has doubled since 2010, with 68 fewer personnel and a 55% increase. Full transparency. This is not a new issue for us,” she said. spoke. “I've been sounding the alarm for the last three years since I've held this seat that more is needed.”
We are crying out for adequate funding to ensure firefighters can do their jobs…
“This is no longer sustainable, so we are now in a position to properly fund it,” she said. “We are asking for adequate funding to ensure firefighters can do their jobs so they can serve their communities.”
Firefighters work to extinguish the Eaton Fire on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, in Altadena, California. (Jason Almond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Crowley said the department identified gaps in service and sent recommendations to the city.
“We know we need 62 new fire stations. We need to double the size of our fire department. Since 1960, the growth of this city has doubled and the number of fire stations has decreased.” she said.
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“So when we talk about sounding the alarm and calling for and demanding budgets that can be easily justified based on data, the real data is to serve this beautiful city and beautiful community that we have sworn to do.” That's what the fire department needs to do. That's about it,” she said.
Mr. Crowley spoke from the bottom of his heart. “None of our firefighters are politicians.”
“Firefighters are here to serve them first and foremost. Again, our firefighters are not politicians. We are public servants first and foremost,” she said. Ta. “We took an oath to serve the public before ourselves and even before our families.”
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“So I want to focus on the path forward. I want to focus on what LAFD needs,” Crowley said. “Our people need to be able to do their jobs by saving lives and maximizing the protection of property.”
“But we need proper funding,” she says. “And that's where my head is.”
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
