Re: [OT] Bass fires fire chief

On Feb 22, 2025 at 3:24:58 PM PST, "Dimensional Traveler" <dtravel@sonic.net>
wrote:

On 2/22/2025 11:17 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

 Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

 I was interested to see that LA mayor Karen Bass has (finally) fired the
 chief of the LA Fire Department.

 

 
https://www.castanet.net/news/World/534600/LA-mayor-dismisses-fire-chief-over-response-to-most-destructive-wildfire-in-city-history-last-month

 

 There would appear to be ample justification for this firing. I'm
 disappointed to see that Bass is still the mayor of LA though. I thought
 there was a move to force her out too?

 
 Given the cuts in the firefighting budget, was there a plan to
 pre-deploy men and equipment during fire season that the mayor's office
 overrode?
 
 I've also read that a great deal of firefighting vehicles and apparatus
 were out of repair. Was that the fault of the fire chief or the mayor's
 office?
 
 My guess is this is buck passing.

 
Makers of firefighting equipment have been raising prices significantly
over the last some years.  So a lot of agencies are unable to replace
equipment that is aging out.  Which means more of it is out for attempts
to repair it.

Except in L.A., they've been cutting the budget of the fire department for
years so they can pay for 'progressive' nonsense, like lawyers for illegal
aliens, and billions for 'homeless outreach'.

Los Angeles only has half the fire department it needs. The National Fire
Institute, which sets standards for municipal fire departments nationwide,
sets the standard for fire staffing for a municipality at a minimum of 1.8
firefighters for every 1000 residents. Los Angeles has 0.9. Exactly half of
what a city this size needs. We're also 62 fire stations short of what is
recommended. Not two or five or ten. Sixty-fucking-two. But never fear! We've
met and *exceeded* our quota of DEI executives, so that's reassuring.

In the 1960s the population of L.A. was about 2 million. Now we have close to
5 million and we have less fire stations and less firefighters now than we did
in the 60s. I mean, who can look at that fact and not say that's frakking
nuts? Decades of L.A. government officials stealing from the fire budget
whenever they wanted to fund some hippy-dippy 'progressive' nonsense that they
didn't have the money for.

The city spends more money on the vagrants (who start the fires) than it does
on the folks who fight the fires. Vagrants account for 60% of the fire
responses in Los Angeles per year (14,000 fires) and the city throws more
money at them than they do for the fire department.

As are so many of California's problems, the fire situation in Los Angeles is
entirely one of the government's making.