Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Chief Kristin Crowley said Friday on CNN's “The Lead” that massive budget cuts will “absolutely negatively impact the department's ability to fight Southern California's devastating wildfires.” “It was,” he said.
Host Jake Tapper said: “There are a lot of questions in the public's mind about whether the decision to cut fire department budgets and related decisions have affected your fire department's ability to fight fires.'' Is it true that those decisions impaired your abilities?
Crowley said: Yes, we cut our budget by $17 million. As you know, when budgets are cut, our ability to accomplish our mission is negatively impacted. I would also like to clarify that I am not a politician, but a civil servant. As the fire chief for the Los Angeles Fire Department, my job is to make sure our firefighters have exactly what they need to do their jobs. That's why I'm talking to you today. We've all seen the Palisades Fire, and it's definitely one of the scariest natural disasters in Los Angeles history. Even if we added 100 engines, there would be no fire. But with that said, let me be clear. A $17 million budget cut and the elimination of civilian jobs like mechanics will severely impact our ability to repair our equipment. As a result, more than 100 firefighting equipment were shut down. And it would have helped if the right number of mechanics were equipped with these devices, but it absolutely had a negative impact. ”
Tapper asked, “What's the point when you have this big audience and you get to talk not only to Mayor Bass, but to Governor Newsom, President Biden, and President-elect Trump?” What do you need now? So the country wants to have everything it needs to stop these fires. What do you need now? ”
“We need adequate funding and support to allow our firefighters to do their jobs,” Crowley said. “Additional resources coming in will help us deal with this current disaster. But going forward, It can happen anywhere across the city of Los Angeles, and we need to have adequate funding and support.”
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