Months after The most destructive forest fire in the modern history of Los AngelesMayor Karen Bass is looking to add dozens of new employees to the Fire Department, just like a variety of other agencies face dismissals.
The mayor, who has legs working to close a almost $ 1 billion of budget gapHe asked to add 227 positions to the fire department in the budget proposal for 2025-26, published on Monday.
Approximately half of the new employees would be firefighters, in a department of just under 3,250 firefighters. The remaining new positions include 25 new emergency medical technicians in addition to mechanics and others.
Genethia Hudley Hayes, president of the City Fire Commission, said Monday that the Fire Department has been recurrent for more than a decade.
“I feel very hopeful,” he said about Bass’s budget proposal. “The mayor has absolutely said that he understands that we will have to have more funds.”
The Bass office did not promote a request for comments.
In the days after the outbreak of the Palisades fire, said the then Chief of Fire Kristin Crowley That budget cuts He had hindered the department’s ability to combat the fire driven by the wind. Bass and his team responded by saying that, once employee increases were factorized in, The fire department budget It actually grew this year.
Following the fire, which destroyed almost 7,000 structures and killed 12 people, both Crowley and the Fire Union described the department as severely sub -financed.
In a Interview with CNN The presenter Jake Tapper on January 10, Crowley said that his department did not have enough firefighters and lacked sufficient mechanics to repair broken emergency vehicles.
At one point, Tapper asked if the budget cuts harmed their agencies the ability to fight the forest fire.
“I want to be very, very clear. Yes,” Crowley replied.
February 21 Under expelled CrowleyComplaining that he did not hear from the boss, in the midst of the wind forecasts, until after the fire broke out. He also questioned the deployment decisions of the boss.
An investigation of the Times found That the FD officials decided not to order approximately 1,000 firefighters who remain on service for a second turn while the winds were being built: why would they duplicate the staff at hand when the Palisades fired the morning of January 7?
Freddy EscobarPresident of United Bombighters or Los Angeles City Local 112, said the department I didn’t have enough firefighters And engines for those 1,000 firefighters.
But several former LFD officers told The Times that keeping service firefighters would have allowed the department to send additional motor diseases to palisadas and other high -risk areas. And firefighters not assigned to additional engines would have been available for other tasks.
On Monday, Escobar said that the mayor’s proposal budget is a step in the right direction.
“These are the speeches that the mayor has to do, and she is prioritizing the fire department and first responds. We are grateful for that,” he said.
Even so, Escobar said the department has little staff “unfortunately.”
The City Council has until the end of May to make changes in the mayor’s budget and then approve it.
Hudley Hayes emphasized the need for adornmental mechanics to ensure that fire equipment and vehicles work. She said that these mechanics should be better compensated so that they do not go to superior payment positions. The mayor’s budget includes funds for four heavy duty equipment mechanics and nine mechanical assistants, together with a maintenance worker.
The budget also includes new initiatives from the Fire Department, including the creation of a fire protection and street medicine program for homeless people, which “would provide fire protection, appropriate application and medical care for people who experience the lack of housing.” The new program would be attended by more than 50 firefighters and a variety of other employees, which represents 67 of the 227 new positions of the department.
In 2024, 16,742 fires in the city were connected with people who experienced homeless people, compared to 4,124 in 2018, according to the data of the Fire Department.
Member of the City Council Traci ParkWhose district includes Pacific Palisades and has advocated more funds from the fire department, said that the mayor’s proposal was a good sign, but that the city should go further.
“This is a small fall in the cube of what is really necessary for the size of our fire department in Los Angeles,” he said.
Park pointed out a motion that the Council approved last month to explore a voting measure that would provide additional funds for the Fire Department’s facilities.
Some Palisades residents also expressed their hope about the mayor’s proposal to provide additional resources to the Fire Department.
Larry Vein directs the Pali Strong Foundation, which helps people with projects related to Palisades fire. Vein’s own house suffered smoke damage in the fire.
“Were many of the residents frustrated? There were assignments of clean resources in the right place? We had enough or a fire budget? Maybe not,” said Vein. “But we have to look forward.”
The Times staff writer, David Zahniser, contributed to this report.
