The Mayor of Town That Always Catches On Fire

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
- But that's socialism, noooooo \s
The government isn't a business, for fuck's sake! Some services like police, fire, health are necessary, but don't generate revenue! Also, even the most profitable corporations on the planet still have IT, Management, and HR departments that don't technically make money.
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?
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks
- Tickets. Police departments have quotas because that's their main revenue source, civil forfeiture is just the icing on the cake.
- Molly's Game also includes Civil Forfeiture. I wouldn't call it a major part of the plot, but it's definitely there and described as bullshit.

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
It's not true - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/la-fire-department-budget-bass.html
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.

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.

What's funny is that the NAZIs also prioritized the police over their fire departments hierarchically. Of course they did that so that when synagogues were burned down the cops could stop the fire departments from putting out the fire.

This is a whole new level of NAZI.

And the OP post is another form of propaganda and misinformation. The fires started in LA county a place the mayor has no control over. They have since then moved into the city of LA. Also, the LA fire department had a surplus of 20 million, so they took 17 million of that surplus and put it elsewhere. It wasn't dedunded at all.
The police force did get an increase in funding and that should be discussed. They are basically a gang and didn't need that extra funding and should be defunded but the fire department didn't get funding pulled.
- This is absolutely syncing right up with MAGA misinformation. I heard today that the 17 million was for a special purchase in the previous budget and wasn't part of the regular fire department budget. Also, the racists and sexists are decrying DEI, apparently because the chief is a woman. Police funding and what it supports is a separate issue, as you point out.
- Surely fires will respect jurisdictional boundaries. It would be rude of them not to.

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?

"What? No, that's not fire. It's just a trick of the light. Look over there, it's a transsexual! Oh no!"

Let’s completely ignore climate change as the root cause of more severe and frequent fires.

This planet is going to implode and these idiots who are blaming a single mayor are going to drag us with them.

Its technically funding when you get prisoners to fight the fires.

I'm always curious about post like these. Are you suggesting that the firefighters failed here? That if there are more firefighters this fire wouldn't have happened? What would more firefighters have done? Could they block the high winds? Are they able to Make It Rain more?

- Lmao so much nonsense over $17 mil. Isn’t the LAFDs budget close to $1,000,000,000? California alone has more invested in forest fire firefighting than most countries. Here is some numbers provided by the state, https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/01/08/california-forest-management-hotter-drier-climate/
  Based on what I’m reading another $1.5 billion has been added to the firefighting budget.
  A mayors office is not suited to perform firefighting. They play a very small role. Nonsense.
- So exactly what you're saying then. There's a specific number of firefighters if employed this fire would not have happened. What's that number? How would they have specifically stop this fire? The current firefighters failed because there wasn't enough of them? Right? That's what you're getting it.
Uh, maybe they could have called in another of our own fire fighting planes instead of of relying on Canada for an extra one? Better training, better contingency plans, installation of fire breaks, more input into city infrastructure like fire water ponds here and there to supply water? What the hell are you trying to get at when there are numerous things they could have done with more funding both in the past and at this very moment?
- What training stops this fire? What amount of fire department budget allows them to redo all the zoning in the wealthy part of Los Angeles? Really I find that maybe the most absurd part of your comment. Yeah I'm sure they'll have real sway over the nimbys. You think this budget cut is the reason they don't have an entire another plane and the crew to run it? And one single plane would have been the difference?
  What I'm getting at is this is all fucking nonsense. No a 17 million cut to the firefighter budget is not why this fire happened. This is climate change. This is dryer windier conditions leading to fire. It doesn't take $17 million dollars to fix that. It takes massive societal change. You people are always looking for quick easy answers to everything and it's just absurd.
Controlled burns were defunded at federal and local levels.
Maybe buy better and efficient equipments to fight fire, training on those equipments. Instead of tanks for the police.
- What equipment would have stopped this fire? This fire was caused because the firefighters didn't have proper equipment?
So the situation is still developing, but a few key errors have emerged:
There has been an extremely limited amount of work done to clear brush and other flammable material. This made the fire a lot worse
There was no communication in terms of evacuation. This made the entire situation more dangerous and more chaotic
The infrastructure to fight the fires was underdeveloped. At one point the hydrants just ran out of water.
The LA Mayor was in Ghana when this was happening, despite fires being forecasted. She dropped the ball in the initial response, and her press conferences have left a lot of be desired. Credit to Gavin Newsome, his response has been a lot better. Part of being the quintessential limo liberal is a smoothness that comes in handy at times like this.
This is on some very real level a failure of state and local government. While a good portion is a failure over decades, the current administration also did a really bad job given the situation they walked into. I think LA Citizens have a right to be pissed.

When the hills of Los Angeles are burning...

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.