LAFD Chief Crowley Tells the Truth About the Budget Cuts

During an appearance on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” Crowley said recent budget cuts have severely undermined the department’s ability to fight the wildfires. The chief said that a $17 million reduction in funding has critically hampered the department’s operational capabilities.

“Yes, we took a $17 million budget cut, and, as we know, any budget cut would negatively impact our ability to carry out our mission. I want to also clarify that I’m not a politician. I’m a public servant. It’s my job as the fire chief for [the] Los Angeles City Fire Department to make sure that our firefighters have exactly what they need to do their jobs. And that’s why I’m talking to you today,” Crowley told Tapper.

“The Palisades fire, everybody’s seen it. It is absolutely one of the most horrific natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles, and even with an additional hundred engines, I tell you we were not going to catch that fire.”

Crowley said the elimination of civilian positions exacerbated the situation.

“Let me be clear. The $17 million budget cut and elimination of our civilian positions, like our mechanics, did and has and will continue to severely impact our ability to repair our apparatus. So, with that, we have over 100 fire apparatus out of service, and having these apparatus and the proper amount of mechanics would have helped,” Crowley said.

Crowley said she has repeatedly alerted city officials about the dire state of the fire department.

“I have over the last three years been clear that the fire department needs help. We can no longer sustain where we are. We do not have enough firefighters. With that, I have also requested multiple budgets, interim budgets, to show how understaffed, under-resourced, and underfunded the LAFD is, so with that also we have clear data that shows the LAFD needs more help, ” Crowley said. “We need 62 more fire stations. These reports also show that we’ve had a 55% increase in overall call volume since 2010. And guess what? We’re doing it with less [sic] firefighters.”

The fire chief said that she had been directed to develop a budget reduction plan that could lead to a staggering $48.8 million cut.

“I was also directed to develop a plan as part of a budget reduction exercise, and that could equate to $48.8 million. And I warned, I rang the bell, that these additional cuts could be very, very devastating for our ability to provide public safety. That would have resulted in 15 fire stations closing down and potentially the elimination of over 300 fire stations,” Crowley said.

[Keep in mind that their budget was $3 billion before the cuts, which included over $100 million in total, and they just increased the healthcare budget by $2.6 billion to give free healthcare to more illegal aliens. The healthcare budget is now about $4 billion.]

Emphasis Added

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