XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.firefighters, alt.los-angeles
XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing political heat from
across the city and beyond as catastrophic fires continue to burn for the fourth day.

The fires have killed at least 10 people and burned nearly 25,000 acres in
the Los Angeles region as of Friday, though not all the blazes are under
Bass' jurisdiction. Among the ones that are include the biggest: the
Palisades Fire, which broke out Tuesday and rapidly consumed thousands of
homes as residents fled for their lives. It had burned more than 20,000
acres as of Friday afternoon and has wreaked havoc since it ignited.

Bass is facing criticism over two issues in particular: a funding cut to
the Los Angeles Fire Department in the fire-prone region and the timing of
a diplomatic trip to Ghana as dangerous fire conditions loomed.

"She knew that we had a major wind event coming up that had the potential
for a wildfire," said Tom Doran, who fled the Palisades Fire that
destroyed his home early Wednesday morning. "She's off in another country,
and at the taxpayer's expense, when she should've been here ... She is the chief executive of Los Angeles. Yes, she delegates but if you delegate
you're the one in charge."

Bass dodged directly addressing the Ghana trip and other criticisms -
including from President-elect Trump - at a news conference Thursday and
said the focus is on fighting the fires.

"Rest assured that when that is done, when we are safe, when lives have
been saved and homes have been saved, we will absolutely do an evaluation
to look at what worked, what didn't work, and to correct or to hold
accountable anybody, department, individual, etcetera," Bass said. "But my focus right now is on the lives and on the homes."

Fire Department budget cuts burn Bass as fires blaze
Budget documents obtained by USA TODAY show that the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget was reduced from $837 million in fiscal year 2024 to
$819 million in fiscal year 2025 as a part of broader cuts for the year.

"LAFD’s operating budget did get reduced by $17.6 million - part of that reduction included 61 total positions (civilian) being eliminated," the
city's controller's office said in comments sent to USA TODAY accompanying
the documents.

A report from the fire department sent to the mayor and city council in December says: "These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the Department's ability to maintain core operations."

The fire department report states that a $7 million reduction in overtime funding "further exacerbated operational challenges across key bureaus" including those that deal with wildfire management and air operations.

Bass said in Thursday's news conference that "there were no reductions
that were made that would have impacted the situation over the last couple
of days."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/10/karen-bass- criticism-los-angeles-fires/77584894007/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)