Los Angeles cut $17.5M from fire department budget months before deadly fires

Seven months earlier the uncontrolled Palisades Fire successful Los Angeles, the city's occurrence section fund for this fiscal twelvemonth was chopped by much than $17.5 million, records show.

Mayor Karen Bass signed the City of Los Angeles' fund for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The full fund for the city's occurrence section was $819.64 million.

Records amusement that for the erstwhile fiscal year, the LAFD's full fund was $837.2 million. The full fund includes salaries, expenses and equipment.

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The city's controller, Kenneth Mejia, posted a graphic connected X successful October confirming the occurrence department's fund was chopped by $17.6 million. The graphic besides showed that the city's constabulary section fund accrued by $126 million.

"This fund serves arsenic a reset, successful portion by continuing to prosecute for captious positions including constabulary officers and firefighters portion eliminating immoderate of the department's vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City household implicit bare desks," Bass said successful a connection successful June.

At slightest 5 radical are dormant and galore much injured arsenic respective fires broke retired crossed Southern California amid historically adust and windy conditions.

More than 7,500 firefighters person been deployed to conflict astatine slightest six large wildfires dotted astir the Los Angeles area, on with respective smaller blazes.

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