Firefighters kept from Palisades, Eaton front lines due to unserviced LAFD vehicles
Firefighters who reported to assist during the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires were kept from helping on the front lines due to dozens of unserviced vehicles, an official told KTLA.
KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos was granted a rare look Thursday inside the largest of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s maintenance yards in Lincoln Heights where she saw “dozens and dozens” of unserviced emergency vehicles.
Ramos asked LAFD union President Freddy Escobar why the vehicles were there.
“I don’t know exactly why each one is here, but I can tell you what has caused them to be here … The LAFD has not had the funding mechanism to supply enough mechanics and enough money for the parts to repair these engines, the trucks, the ambulances,” Escobar said.
Escobar said that not only would more equipment have been helpful in fighting the two massive wildfires but that there were actually crewmembers who reported but couldn’t get a ride up to help in the firefight.
“We had more members report to assist during those fires than we had spots for them. So easily, if we would have had an engine … if we could stack it with the minimum … tools and equipment that you need to address a fire with the staffing, absolutely you could go in and make a difference,” he said.
When asked to confirm a second time about the lack of transportation available to firefighters Escobar said, “Yes. That is a fact.”
L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park was also at the maintenance yard Thursday to give her reaction upon seeing the unused emergency vehicles.
“As a resident, as a taxpayer and as the councilmember for the district that is now home to our city’s largest disaster in history. It is incredibly frustrating to see all of these assets sitting out of service,” Park said.
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley has blamed budget cuts for some of the Fire Department’s response issues and said that while the extra vehicles may not have stopped the fires they could have helped to save homes.
Park mentioned that it was hard to know exactly what impact the vehicles could have had given the weather conditions, lack of water and other challenges, but having them out of service affects the entire city.
“On any given day in the city of Los Angeles, we have assets that are out of circulation and out of service. There are large swaths of the city with no resources available and when we don’t have the equipment that our firefighters and paramedics need to keep our cities safe, that impacts everyone in our city,” she said.
Escobar said that the LAFD has been neglected for years and urged city officials, along with Mayor Karen Bass, to do something.
Park said she is supporting a recent bond measure that would get some of the money to support the work but more needs to be done.
“We have to get creative about these solutions … We cannot fund the Fire Department at the level that it needs inside the four walls of the current city budget that we have … In the wake of what has happened in our city we have no other choice but to make this our top priority,” Park said.