Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) chief Kristin Crowley said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” that massive budget cuts “absolutely negatively impacted ” the department’s ability to fight the disastrous wildfires in Southern California.
Host Jake Tapper said, “A lot of questions going on amongst the public about whether the decision to slash the fire department’s budget and decisions around that have affected your department’s ability to to fight the fires? Is it is it true did those decisions hurt your ability to do so?”
Crowley said, “I want to be very, very clear. 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. The Palisades fire, everybody’s seen it, it is absolutely one of the most horrific natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles. Even with an additional 100 engines, I tell you, we were not going to catch that fire. But with that being said, let me be clear. the $17 million budget cut and the 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 in the proper amount of mechanics would have helped and so it did absolutely negatively impact.”
Tapper asked, “Is there anything, given that you have this audience now and you can talk to not only Mayor Bass, but Governor Newsom and President Biden and incoming President Trump? What do you need right now? I mean, the country wants you to have everything you need to stop these fires. What do you need right now?”
Crowley said, “We need to be fully, fully funded and supported so that our firefighters can do their jobs. Additional resources coming in will help us with this current disaster. But moving forward, that potential can happen anywhere in the entire city of Los Angeles. and we need to be fully funded and supported.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN