- cross-posted to:
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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
cross-posted from: https://kbin.earth/m/[email protected]/t/818591
town that always catches on fire rule
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Retired firefighter/paramedic here. It’s simple: Fire departments don’t normally generate revenue. It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.
Why police departments need heavy armor and assault accoutrements is beyond me, though. I mean, all that shit didn’t help whatsoever in most mass-shootings.
It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.
The whole point of government is to collect taxes to pay for stuff that isn’t revenue generating to spread out the costs!
Seriously, this. Government is supposed to fund services, not profitable businesses
I saw Rebel Ridge on Netflix, could very well be that police departments generate revenue through Civil Forfeiture.
(It’s a fictional thriller, not a documentary, but very much based on modern realities)
Did somebody say John Oliver story that enrages me how fucked up America is as a country?
Tickets. Police departments have quotas because that’s their main revenue source, civil forfeiture is just the icing on the cake.
Is this true? Lots of disinformation flying around about the fire dept in LA. I haven’t gotten around to fact checking for myself.
The immediate narrative of “they cut the budget” is not quite true. The budget was done while the city was negotiating with the main union, so they didn’t have exact numbers for additional wages and benefits, and the normal process is to leave them off entirely until the contract is done. That showed cuts on paper. They then finished the deal and ended up with a 6.5% total increase.
HOWEVER, the broader point is that while the LAPD budget is being augmented to bring on hundreds of new officers and hire civilian support positions, the Fire department’s budget is stagnating, and the budget specifically eliminated 79 civilian support positions and lowered the overtime budget for firefighters. The chief pointed out it’s about the same size as it was 50 years ago. So, she basically took the media moment to get some attention on the need for more resources, and it turned out she was very right.
The overal LAFD budget after the restored funds is around $895M. For comparison, the police budget got a 7.5% increase in city funding, and its ~$2B city budget is augmented by state and federal funds for about another ~$1.2B. I’m sure the fire department gets something, particularly when a massive emergency actually happens, but I couldn’t find any readily available numbers for any ongoing support from state or federal.
And just for “funsies,” when Fox News reported on the FD cuts, they compared not to police, but to the city “spending millions on the homeless,” which while true, also reflected a full 26% cut from $250M to $185M. Never change, Fox News. /s
Ignore the other guy. It’s true. The fire chief pointed out several infrastructure deficiencies, meanwhile the Mayor cut the fire budget by over $17 million and raised the police budget.
Yep, see -
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief-budget-cuts/ (archived at https://archive.is/a4IxG)
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/08/la-police-budget-palisades-fires/ (archived at https://archive.is/a4IxG)
e; also, this -
… the budget picture is far from rosy. Chief Kristin M. Crowley of the Los Angeles Fire Department wrote a memo to the fire commission last month saying the overtime cut was creating “unprecedented operational challenges” — both in fulfilling everyday tasks like payroll processing and long-term planning for major emergencies like big wildfires or earthquakes.
She wrote that specialized programs, including air operations and disaster response, relied on staff working overtime hours and were at risk of becoming less effective. She added that the loss of civilian positions was also squeezing firefighters who had to backfill some of those responsibilities.
In November, Chief Crowley wrote a separate memo to the commission focusing on the bigger picture: a fire department that has not changed much in size since the 1960s despite the city’s population surging by more than a million people since then.
She wrote that the call volume rose by a factor of five between 1969 and 2023, but that the department had not been given the staffing and new fire stations it needs to respond effectively, and that response times were steadily increasing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/la-fire-department-budget-bass.html (archived at https://archive.is/xBCxj)
When the two sides did reach an agreement in November, that money was moved over to the fire department’s pot, according to Mr. Blumenfield’s office, meaning this year’s fire budget is actually $53 million more than last year.
Weird way to cut a budget
How long was it before the budget got reallocated? And how much had this been going on before?
It sounds like a big part of the issue is that they haven’t been able to do mitigation - controlled burns, etc. If the budget has been slashed for a long time, suddenly dumping some cash in later is going to have a limited effect.
The budget was increased by 53 million.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/la-fire-department-budget-bass.html
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No. Even if it was, this isn’t a thing you can beat by throwing bodies or money at. It was just too fast.
The argument I would allow is if that money had been spent by the world over the last 40 years to prevent climate change.
Fire mitigation is the issue, reducing its potential effects before it occurs since preventing it entirely is basically impossible. Without the budget, that stuff doesn’t happen, and that’s what leads to faster-spreading wildfires.
Good thing they had the budget
I see potential for a self fulfilling prophecy here:
Instead of putting funding into things that keep people from revolting put it in prepping “law” enforcement for they day they inevitably will.
(Autocorrect suggested flaw instead of law. Kinda works too, doesn’t it?)
“Flaw enforcement.”
I’m going to use that in a sentence.
I can’t imagine defund the fire brigade being a popular slogan with anyone really.
One time, I was on a car trip with a friend and we passed a yard sign advocating funding (or maybe supporting? It was a long time ago) the fire department. I said “who doesn’t support the fire department?” and she responded “I don’t know … Arsonists?”
So yeah, arsonists might want to see the fire department defunded.
They don’t campaign on that, they campaign on “keeping taxes low” or bullshit like that
Because it wasn’t defunded you fell for bullshit.
Funnily, thats the exact plot of the Show im currently watching
Makes sense if the writers live in LA and they have to live with this situation
Even more funnily it’s bullshit. People lie on the Internet
What is your deal?
Increasingly sick of people amplifying bullshit mostly
Turns out the firefighters where actually starting the previous fires to legitimize their need for a higher budget.
Good job Mayor!
At least the police can be trusted to follow the laws they enforce. The chief promised this himself.
