January 10, 2025, 02:49 PM
wcb6092Wait, So No One Was Really in Charge in LA When the Fires Broke Out?
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...s-broke-out-n2650326So, who was in charge amid the chaos of the Los Angeles County fires, which are still raging? Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana for the inauguration of that nation’s president. Her atrocious response about this African trip, her absence at the start of the crisis, and whether she regrets cutting the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by almost $20 million was well-documented—she said nothing as she stormed past reporters.
It's customary that the deputy mayor would be in charge. Still, we must revisit older details that have reemerged with his natural disaster since LA's deputy mayor got ensnared in a federal kerfuffle: He allegedly made a bomb threat to city hall. FBI agents raided his home a few weeks ago, where he was later placed on leave. This incident occurred last December (via Fox News):
The deputy mayor of Los Angeles was placed on leave after an investigation allegedly determined he made a bomb threat against City Hall earlier this year.
FOX 11 in Los Angeles reported that LA Deputy Mayor Brian Williams’ Pasadena, California home was raided by the FBI o... in connection with an investigation into a bomb threat against City Hall back in September. The FBI did not make any arrests at the time of the search.
… LA Mayor Karen Bass’s office released a statement on Williams’ being placed on leave.
So, again, who was in charge? When this fiasco gets resolved, it makes for another line of inquiry, but not before we tally what will be the costliest wildfire in American history.
January 10, 2025, 05:32 PM
stiabI have spent about an hour googling different key words to see how ABC, CBS, NBC and the other MSM are covering the LA fires.
This will not surprise any of you, but they have circled the wagons and going all in to protect the local and state Democratic Party politicians. Nothing could have been anticipated, nothing could have been prevented, nothing could have been done differently or better, nothing but Climate Change to blame. Trump et al are liars who show no sympathy and only want to cast blame for political gain.
That is their story and so far they are sticking to it. But at the local news level there are starting to be hints of disgrundled citizens asking hard questions. Hopefully that continues until it is impossible for the MSM to ignore.
January 10, 2025, 08:08 PM
12131Bass, you need to go, too, bitch.
BREAKING NEWS LA Fire Chief is dismissed by Mayor Karen Bass after lashing out over department cuts as deadly blazes devastate cityBy JOSH BOSWELL and DANIEL GUSS and JAMES GORDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:34 EST, 10 January 2025 | UPDATED: 20:53 EST, 10 January 2025
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley was fired by Mayor Karen Bass on Friday afternoon, a source close to the chief’s office told DailyMail.com.
‘Kristin was summoned by Bass this afternoon, about 4pm. She came back from that meeting, hugged her staff goodbye and left. She said she was fired,’ the source said.
The alleged booting follows Crowley lashing out against the Mayor’s cuts to her department, in an interview with a local Fox TV station around 12pm Friday.
‘My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded,’ the Chief said. ‘It’s not.’
‘Did they fail you?’ Fox LA’s Gigi Graciette asked. ‘Yes,’ Crowley replied.
The Fire Department (LAFD) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tensions were already at boiling point between Bass and Crowley, even before the disastrous fires broke out on Tuesday.
The Mayor pushed through budget cuts of $17.6 million through a recent council vote, prompting Crowley to write her a memo on December 4 warning the slash ‘severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.’
And DailyMail.com exclusively revealed a second LAFD memo written this Monday, the day before the Palisades Fire began, outlining a further $49 million of cut allegedly demanded by Bass.
In shocking statements to Fox LA on Friday, Crowley said she had not been informed that the Santa Ynez Reservoir in the Palisades had been empty and offline for weeks with scheduled maintenance by LA Department of Water and Power (DWP).
On Friday DailyMail.com revealed LAFD insiders were blaming DWP CEO Janisse Quiñones for scheduling repairs to the reservoir’s cover during brushfire season, and for failing to repair a large number hydrants which they said had been broken for years, including in the Palisades.
Crowley also appeared to point the finger at DWP for running out of water to provide firefighters battling the blaze this week.
‘We weren’t aware,’ she said, referring to the empty reservoir. ‘I don’t know how the water gets to the hydrants. Please defer that to DWP.
‘It’s my job to stand up and say, justifiably, exactly what the fire department needs,’ the chief added.
‘When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water. We don’t control the water supply. We’re there to protect lives and property.
She said her firefighters ‘did absolutely everything they could do to rescue and save people’s lives and property.’
In an extraordinary public airing of grievances, Crowley acknowledged to a reporter with KTTV that the city, and by extension, Mayor Bass, failed its residents during the wildfires.
When pushed several times if the city had failed, Crowley's response was unflinching: 'Yes.'
The stark admission sent shockwaves through the city, as Crowley detailed the dire state of her department.
Years of budget cuts, she said, had left the LAFD grappling with crippling staffing shortages, outdated equipment, and insufficient resource - issues she claimed had been repeatedly brought to the city's attention.
'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,' Crowley 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.'
Crowley painted a grim picture of the department's daily operations, revealing that firefighters are handling more than 1,500 calls and transporting 650 patients every day under normal conditions. The wildfires have only exacerbated these challenges.
'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.
'This isn't a new problem. It's been a problem for years. And it's time for it to be fixed.'
Despite her repeated warnings and detailed memos outlining the department's needs, the city slashed the LAFD's budget by over $17 million in recent years.
The result, Crowley said, was predictable: slower response times and a diminished capacity to combat the growing frequency and intensity of fires.
'Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service,' she explained. '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's criticism extends beyond the immediate crisis, pointing to a systemic failure to scale the fire department's capabilities alongside the city's explosive growth.
'We know we need 62 new fire stations. We need to double the size of our firefighters,' she said. 'The growth of this city since 1960 has doubled, and we have less fire stations.'
The fire chief called out city officials for ignoring 'real data' that supports the fire department's repeated requests for increased funding.
'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.'
Crowley's remarks were not just a critique but also a heartfelt plea for immediate and sustained action.
Emphasizing the non-political nature of her role, she said, 'None of us on the fire department are politicians. We're public servants first. We took an oath to serve the public before ourselves and even before our families.
'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,' Crowley said. 'But we need to be funded appropriately. And that's where my head is at.'
Bass has yet to respond to Crowley's blistering criticism, but the fallout is already apparent.
Accusations of negligence and failure to prioritize public safety have added fuel to mounting dissatisfaction among residents, many of whom are reeling from the devastation caused by the wildfires.
