L.A. Fires

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  • shecky
    shecky San Francisco Posts: 2,812
    edited January 10

    SORRY TO HAVE TO POST 5 SEPARATE STORIES BUT THIS IS BREAKING NEWS AND EACH STORY HAS UNIQUE FACTS.
    Post edited by shecky on
  • shecky
    shecky San Francisco Posts: 2,812

  • So far we have been fortunate to not be too close to the fires requiring evacuation. A couple of friends had to evacuate, but their homes are still standing. Lots of smoke in the air with ash and soot on the ground and on cars. Stay safe all.
  • Spunkie
    Spunkie i come from downtown. Posts: 7,095
    A few christmasses ago when the moms were packing up all their Xmas gear here, they learned to keep the priceless stuff they dont want to lose handy for when the fire comes. 


    I was swimming in the Great Barrier Reef 
    Animals were hiding behind the Coral 
    Except for little Turtle
    I could swear he's trying to talk to me 
    Gurgle Gurgle
  • Merkin Baller
    Merkin Baller Posts: 12,818
    The planet is becoming less hospitable to our presence on it.... if you're blaming the current politicians in office for these fires, I think you're missing the (burning) forest for the trees. 
  • Loujoe
    Loujoe Posts: 11,858
    True. Super sad that this was arson^^^bad stuff going on. Really hard sometimes but I have to remember to count my blessings. 
    Take care all
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    The planet is becoming less hospitable to our presence on it.... if you're blaming the current politicians in office for these fires, I think you're missing the (burning) forest for the trees. 

    So true and especially more so in some places than others.   Places like Southern California and large cities in dry climates- the greater L.A. basin, Phoenix and Tuscon, for example-  are going to have to go through some huge struggles and change in order to adapt to changing climate.  I think the obvious biggest issue is populations that are unsustainable for dry regions. 
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • shecky
    shecky San Francisco Posts: 2,812

    LA fire chief says city failed residents in wildfire prep, budget cuts: 'Screaming to be properly funded'

    The fire chief said that staffing shortages and lack of resources have been pressing issues facing the department for years

    Published January 10, 2025 5:15pm EST

    Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said that the City of Los Angeles failed its over 100,000 displaced residents who were forced to evacuate from the ongoing wildfire siege.

    When asked by Fox News' affiliate, KTTV, if the City of Los Angeles, and its Mayor Karen Bass failed the city, Crowley replied: "Yes."

    Crowley said that pressing staffing shortages impacted the department's response time when the blaze began tearing across Los Angeles.

    "Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service," she said. "That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there's a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn't get done or that there are delays."

    Crowley said that staffing shortages and lack of resources has been a pressing issue facing the department for years. She pointed to a series of memos she sent to the city identifying in detail the needs of the department.

    "Since day one, we've identified huge gaps in regard to our service delivery and our ability of our firefighters' boots on the ground to do their jobs since day one," she said. "This is my third budget as we're going into 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is we are still understaffed, we're still under-resourced and we're still underfunded."

    When asked about how the budget cuts, which slashed the budget by $17,553,814 from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423, Crowley said that they "did impact our ability to provide service." 

    "On a normal day, our firefighters are running over 1,500 calls, and they're transporting 650 patients a day – let alone the last three days of what we've had," she said. 

    The problems facing the fire department "isn't a new problem," Crowley told the local outlet.

    "The amount of calls that our firefighters are running today has doubled since 2010, a 55% increase with 68 fewer people. Full transparency. This isn't a new problem for us," she said. "Since the three years that I've been in the seat, I've sounded the alarm to say we need more."

    "This is no longer sustainable. So with that, we are now in a position to be properly funded," she said. "We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so that we can serve the community."

    Crowley said that the department has identified gaps in service and sent recommendations to the city.

    "We know we need 62 new fire stations. We need to double the size of our firefighters. The growth of this city since 1960 has doubled and we have less fire stations," she said.

    "So when you talk about sounding the alarm and asking and requesting budgets that are easily justifiable based off of the data, real data shows what the fire department needs to serve this beautiful city and the beautiful community that we swore that we would. That's what that is about," she said.

    Speaking from the heart, Crowley said: "None of us on the fire department are politicians."

    "Firefighters are here to serve them, first and foremost. Again, none of us on the fire department are politicians. We're public servants first," she said. "We took an oath to serve the public before ourselves and even before our families."

    "So with that, I want to focus on path forward. I want to focus on what the LAFD needs," Crowley said. "What our people need to do their jobs is to make sure that we can save lives and that we can protect property to the greatest capacity."

    "But we need to be funded appropriately," she said. "And that's where my head is at."

    Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

    I TRUST THE OPINION OF L.A.'S FIRE CHIEF, KRISTIN CROWLEY, OVER THE OPINION OF MAYOR KAREN BASS, A POLITICIAN.


  • F Me In The Brain
    F Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,882
    Fuck I hate some people. 
    The love he receives is the love that is saved
  • Guy Dudebro
    Guy Dudebro Posts: 1,483
    edited January 11
    Fox News lol. You could have had an additional 50,0000 overpaid firemen and they wouldn’t have been able to stop these winds. And I’m sure it was Karen Bass’ and Gavin Newsom’s fault that we haven’t had any noticeable rain to speak of in forever. 
    Post edited by Guy Dudebro on
  • shecky
    shecky San Francisco Posts: 2,812

    A review of last year's California state budget shows California Gov. Gavin Newsom cut funding for wildfire and forest resilience by more than $100 million.

    The budget, signed in June and covering the 2024-25 fiscal year, eliminated $101 million from seven "wildfire and forest resilience" programs, according to a report from Newsweek.

    The California fires, responsible for destroying more than 10,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area, are still not contained.

    Cal Fire had a $5 million reduction in spending on fuel reduction teams, including funds used to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard, the report noted.

    Other changes:

    • $28 million cut from multiple state conservancies that expand wildfire resilience
    • $12 million cut from a "home hardening" experiment that would protect homes from wildfires
    • $8 million cut from monitoring and research spending, mostly dedicated to Cal Fire and state universities
    • $4 million cut from the forest legacy program, which encourages landowners to manage their properties
    • $3 million cut from funding for an inter-agency forest data hub

      Newsom's director of communications, Izzy Gardon, called the budget cuts a "ridiculous lie," in a statement to Fox News Digital Friday night.

    "The governor has doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet and the state has increased the forest management ten-fold since he took office," she wrote. "Facts matter."

    His office attached statistics that refer to the overall increase in spending and personnel over a number of years since he took office in 2019, as opposed to commenting on the most recent cuts.

    Cal Fire did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 8 p.m. Friday.


  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    edited January 15
    .

    Post edited by brianlux on
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    edited January 15
    .

    Post edited by brianlux on
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • lastexitlondon
    lastexitlondon Posts: 14,965
    We know how this place works bri .


    this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    edited January 15
    .
    Post edited by brianlux on
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • Hope everyone is staying safe.

    Norm,
    I hope you and your dad are still doing ok. You too, Joe.
  • JOEJOEJOE
    JOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,829
    we evacuated last night but are home now.


  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    JOEJOEJOE said:
    we evacuated last night but are home now.



    Good news!  Stay safe Joe.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,674
    Good list of places to help forwarded to me:

    Organizations supporting victims: 

    Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)- https://www.coreresponse.org/donate-emergency-response-fund/ 

    American Red Cross- 1-800-RED-CROSS, text the word REDCROSS to 90999 or visit http://redcross.org/ 

    United Way of Greater Los Angeles- https://unitedwayla.org/ 

    Salvation Army- https://socal.salvationarmy.org/southern-california/wildfires-in-los-angeles/ 

    Organizations supporting firefighters:  

    California Fire Foundation- https://www.cafirefoundation.org/ 

    Lost Angeles Fire Department Foundation- https://supportlafd.org/ 

    Widows, Orphans and Disabled Firefighters Fund- https://www.wodff.org/ 

    Organizations helping animals: 

    Pasadena Humane- https://pasadenahumane.org/eaton-canyon-fire-update/ 

    Los Angeles County Animal Care Foundation- https://lacountyanimals.org/ 

    Los Angeles Animal Services- https://www.laanimalservices.com/ 

     https://wck.org/relief/california-fires-jan25





    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • mickeyrat
    mickeyrat Posts: 44,795
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