At least 75 fire trucks languished in a city repair facility in downtown Los Angeles as wildfires decimated Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, pictures taken by The Post show.
The essential firefighting vehicles were still sitting in the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance lot in an industrial area Wednesday, still waiting to be repaired.
Controversy over the the rows of idle trucks has intensified after revelations about the LAFD budget being cut by $17 million by current mayor Karen Bass.
“We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service,” Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley admitted to CNN when the wildfires, which have led to over 100,000 people having to evacuate their homes, were still at their peak.
“Having these apparatus, and the proper amount of mechanics would have helped.”
The repair facility office manager declined to speak when asked about the trucks by The Post.
Back in May, LAFD Captain Freddy Escobar — president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles union — warned the department was seriously underfunded.
“We don’t have enough firefighters and medics, we don’t have enough fire engines, we don’t have enough trucks and ambulances in the field,” Escobar testified during a budget hearing. “And we don’t have the equipment and staffing we need to respond to half a million emergency calls for service every year.”
At a commission meeting just last month, Escobar told LA city officials short staffing in the fire department was “dire” warning “someone will die.”
LAFD has approximately 3,500 firefighters who are responsible for the city’s almost four million residents, which works out at less than one firefighter per 1,000 residents. Other major cities have closer to two firefighters per 1,000 residents, and an analysis by CNN found Los Angeles to have less staff than any of the other 10 largest cities in the US.
“We are on the frontlines of this homeless crisis,” Escobar said.
“Fifty percent of the fires we respond to come from our homeless population. And the city reportedly spends $1.3 billion each year on homeless programs, but the LAFD is scheduled to receive a cut? This makes absolutely no sense.”
One homeless man with a blowtorch was tackled by citizens this week as he attempted to fight fires, while others have reported arsonists across the city.
City Council member Traci Park, a Democrat, also raised the alarm at the May commission meeting, saying the fire department’s resources were being strained to the breaking point, just as wildfires season was looming.
At that time, officials said 86 of the city’s emergency vehicles were out of commission in Los Angeles because there was no money to hire sheet metal workers and mechanics to fix them.
Among the sidelined vehicles were 40 fire engines, which carry water and are used to fight fires, 36 ambulances, and 10 fire trucks, which carry equipment, like ladders and rescue supplies.
“It just makes no sense to have million dollar fire trucks and engines taken out of service and sidelined because we don’t have enough mechanics to keep them running,” Captain Chuong Ho testified during the budget hearing.
Over 7,500 firefighters and emergency personnel have been drafted from across California to fight the wildfires in the city, which started on Jan. 7. They have been joined by teams from neighboring states and as far afield as Utah and Colorado.
At least 25 people have been killed in the Los Angeles fires as of Wednesday and officials have warned the number is expected to rise.
It’s been eight days since the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, first sparked on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres. The Eaton Fire has burned more than 14,000 acres.
More than 12,000 structures have been burned to the ground as firefighters are attempting to put out the devastating wildfires plaguing Los Angeles.
