LA fire chief warned Mayor Karen Bass last month that budget cuts would impact department’s ability to fight wildfires

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned Mayor Karen Bass just weeks ago that the nearly $18 million slashed from the fire department’s budget would impact its response to emergencies like this week’s deadly wildfires.

“The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Chief Kristin Crowley wrote in a memo on Dec. 4, 2024, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The budget, approved last year by Bass, cut mainly administrative jobs but also axed about $7 million from its overtime budget.

The overtime hours were used in part to pay for FAA-mandated pilot training and helicopter coordination staffing to prepare to fight wildfires, according to Crowley’s memo, which was presented to the Board of Fire Commissioners.

“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished,” it read. “Changes to the Air Operations Section impact the Department’s ability to adhere to current automatic and mutual aid agreements, provide air ambulance service, and quickly respond to woodland fires with water dropping helicopters.”

The memo also said other programs would be crippled by the budget cuts, including the Disaster Response, which funds bulldozer teams that help contain wildfires, and the Critical Incident Planning and Training Section, which organizes response plans for major disasters.

Bass told reporters Wednesday night she was “confident” the budget cuts did not hinder LAFD’s response to the multiple wildfires torching parts of the city, killing at least five people and destroying hundreds of homes.