L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (D) last month that her budgets to the department were putting the city at serious risk for wildfires because the cuts limited the department’s ability to respond.
In a memo dated December 4, 2024, Crowley wrote that the nearly $18 million in cuts “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished,” Crowley wrote in the memo that was presented last month to the Board of Fire Commissioners, a panel of mayoral appointees who oversee the management of the Department, according to a local NBC News affiliate.
Crowley said that the overtime hours funded “Heavy Equipment Operators (HEOs) who make fire control lines…
