LAFD Chief Warned Budget Cuts ‘Severely Limited’ Disaster Response a Month Before LA Wildfires Outbreak

A month before the outbreak of multiple, devastating fires throughout greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley warned that recent budget cuts approved by Mayor Karen Bass “severely limited” LAFD’s ability to respond to “large scale emergencies.”

“The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Crowley said in a memo dated Dec. 4, 2024, and published Wednesday by KNBC in Los Angeles.

The 2024 Los Angeles city budget included approximately $17 million cut from LAFD. According to the city, these cuts were in part to account for multiple positions that would not be filled; they also redirected certain funds to emergency health services, due to the fact that the majority of FD calls were for medical emergencies and not fires.

Though only approximately 2% of the total LAFD budget — which, after the cuts was still $819 million — it was one of the largest of numerous cuts in the budget approved in May. One city entity was spared however: The Los Angeles Police Department, which despite a drop in total staff and a historically low crime rate received a $127 million increase in funding.

These cuts — and the additional funding applied to LAPD — were harshly criticized at the time, though city leaders who advocated for them prevailed. The criticism has received new life given the devastation wrought by the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Sunset Fire and numerous other blazes besetting LA thanks to the worst Santa Ana winds in more than 10 years.

And just weeks ago in the December memo, Crowley also wrote, “Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished. Changes to the Air Operations Section impact the Department’s ability to adhere to current automatic and mutual aid agreements, provide air ambulance service, and quickly respond to woodland fires with water dropping helicopters.”

Crowley hasn’t publicly criticized Bass since the outbreak of the fires. For her part, Mayor Bass denies the cuts have impacted the response to the fires. “”I am confident that it did not,” she said Wednesday.

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