this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
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The Mayor of Town That Always Catches On Fire (media.kbin.earth)
submitted 19 hours ago by aeronmelon@lemmy.world to c/microblogmemes@lemmy.world
75 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://kbin.earth/m/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone/t/818591

town that always catches on fire rule

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[–] Thrillhouse@lemmy.world 62 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

Is this true? Lots of disinformation flying around about the fire dept in LA. I haven’t gotten around to fact checking for myself.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 58 points 12 hours ago

The immediate narrative of "they cut the budget" is not quite true. The budget was done while the city was negotiating with the main union, so they didn't have exact numbers for additional wages and benefits, and the normal process is to leave them off entirely until the contract is done. That showed cuts on paper. They then finished the deal and ended up with a 6.5% total increase.

HOWEVER, the broader point is that while the LAPD budget is being augmented to bring on hundreds of new officers and hire civilian support positions, the Fire department's budget is stagnating, and the budget specifically eliminated 79 civilian support positions and lowered the overtime budget for firefighters. The chief pointed out it's about the same size as it was 50 years ago. So, she basically took the media moment to get some attention on the need for more resources, and it turned out she was very right.

The overal LAFD budget after the restored funds is around $895M. For comparison, the police budget got a 7.5% increase in city funding, and its ~$2B city budget is augmented by state and federal funds for about another ~$1.2B. I'm sure the fire department gets something, particularly when a massive emergency actually happens, but I couldn't find any readily available numbers for any ongoing support from state or federal.

And just for "funsies," when Fox News reported on the FD cuts, they compared not to police, but to the city "spending millions on the homeless," which while true, also reflected a full 26% cut from $250M to $185M. Never change, Fox News. /s

[–] morphballganon@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 10 hours ago

I've heard the fire dept bill was passed separately, so if you just look at the normal spending bill, it will look like a cut.

Like if you upgrade to a new computer, observe that your old computer is gone, and conclude that you don't have a computer and liberals must have stolen it, and get off my lawn while you're at it

[–] Poxlox@lemmy.world 38 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Ignore the other guy. It's true. The fire chief pointed out several infrastructure deficiencies, meanwhile the Mayor cut the fire budget by over $17 million and raised the police budget.

[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 22 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

Yep, see -

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief-budget-cuts/ (archived at https://archive.is/a4IxG)

https://theintercept.com/2025/01/08/la-police-budget-palisades-fires/ (archived at https://archive.is/a4IxG)

e; also, this -

... the budget picture is far from rosy. Chief Kristin M. Crowley of the Los Angeles Fire Department wrote a memo to the fire commission last month saying the overtime cut was creating “unprecedented operational challenges” — both in fulfilling everyday tasks like payroll processing and long-term planning for major emergencies like big wildfires or earthquakes.

She wrote that specialized programs, including air operations and disaster response, relied on staff working overtime hours and were at risk of becoming less effective. She added that the loss of civilian positions was also squeezing firefighters who had to backfill some of those responsibilities.

In November, Chief Crowley wrote a separate memo to the commission focusing on the bigger picture: a fire department that has not changed much in size since the 1960s despite the city’s population surging by more than a million people since then.

She wrote that the call volume rose by a factor of five between 1969 and 2023, but that the department had not been given the staffing and new fire stations it needs to respond effectively, and that response times were steadily increasing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/la-fire-department-budget-bass.html (archived at https://archive.is/xBCxj)

[–] vonbaronhans@midwest.social 1 points 7 hours ago

People are using the same NYT article to support both sides of this argument.

I'm not an NYT subscriber. What's the deal here?

[–] huginn@feddit.it 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

When the two sides did reach an agreement in November, that money was moved over to the fire department’s pot, according to Mr. Blumenfield’s office, meaning this year’s fire budget is actually $53 million more than last year.

Weird way to cut a budget

[–] 5too@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

How long was it before the budget got reallocated? And how much had this been going on before?

It sounds like a big part of the issue is that they haven't been able to do mitigation - controlled burns, etc. If the budget has been slashed for a long time, suddenly dumping some cash in later is going to have a limited effect.

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

No. Even if it was, this isn’t a thing you can beat by throwing bodies or money at. It was just too fast.

The argument I would allow is if that money had been spent by the world over the last 40 years to prevent climate change.

[–] moody@lemmings.world 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Fire mitigation is the issue, reducing its potential effects before it occurs since preventing it entirely is basically impossible. Without the budget, that stuff doesn't happen, and that's what leads to faster-spreading wildfires.