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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Social media users are criticizing Los Angeles for cutting funding for the city's fire department as firefighters continue to battle a number of large wildfires that have forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
More than 4,000 acres have burned across the city since three large blazes broke out on Tuesday.
In the city's upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, about 30,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate because of a fire that has burned through more than 2,900 acres since Tuesday morning.
Read More on U.S.
A fire that broke out on Tuesday night has burned 1,000 acres in the hills above Altadena, while firefighters are also working to contain another fire that has burned at least 500 acres in the San Fernando Valley.
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The Claim
Several social media users have made posts accusing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of reducing funding for the Los Angeles Fire Department in the wake of the fast-moving fires.
"Karen Bass cut fire dept funding by $17.6M. That was her 2nd biggest cut," an account with the handle @FilmThePoliceLA wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Facts
Bass proposed a $12.8 billion budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year in April last year.
The proposal included $814,281,952 for the fire department—with $77,957,494 for salaries and $41,324,458 for expenses.
This amounted to a decrease of $22,909,285 since the department's funding for the 2023-2024 fiscal year was $837,191,237. The estimated expenditures for that year were more than $903 million, according to the document.
The adopted budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year increased the amount for the fire department to $819,637,423, according to a summary on the city administrative officer's website. That meant the department's funding saw a decrease of $17,553,814, rather than almost $23 million.
Bass signed the budget in June.
Her office noted that the budget funds the hiring of firefighters and continues the Emergency Appointment Paramedic Program since the majority of calls to the fire department are related to medical emergencies. "This budget serves as a reset, in part by continuing to hire for critical positions including police officers and firefighters while eliminating some of the department's vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City family over empty desks," she said in a statement at the time.
However, ABC News and Politico have reported that the fire department's budget ultimately increased by more than $50 million compared to the previous year.
According to Politico, the city was negotiating a new contract with the fire department when the budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year was being crafted, so additional funding was set aside until the deal was finalized in November.
A spokesperson for Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who previously chaired the council's budget and finance committee, told ABC News that the updated budget in November saw a $53 million increase in the department's funding once the council took into account the department's unappropriated balance calculation.
The mayor's office, Blumenfield's office and the fire department have been contacted for comment via email.
The Ruling
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Needs Context.
Records of the approved budget show that the LAFD's budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year did decrease by about $17.6 million from the previous year, and the department's total annual budget was almost $820 million.
But according to Blumenfield's office, the fire department saw a $53 million increase in funding from the previous year after the budget was updated in November.
Furthermore, the LAFD is not the only department responding to the wildfires. The
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are among the agencies tackling the fires, and federal resources have also been deployed.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek
Update on 01/10/2025 at 6:35 a.m. ET: This article and the ruling have been updated based on additional information from Los Angeles Councilmember Bob Blumenfield's office.
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